One-Night Brand
by KtyouVsWriting
Summary: Yang just wanted to be a better friend to Jaune and help cheer him up, but one thing led to another. That one night together was all it took for them to see a different side of each other. Sides seldom seen... but they're still just friends. Yang is definitely not noticing the dork more and Jaune is certainly not falling for another girl. It's just some clean release. Nothing more.
1. Ch 1: The Mark

Edited by: **Trance Sephiroth**

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Updated: (7/14/16)

Chapter 1: The Mark

Beacon Academy…

Jaune Arc knew better than to lie about things that were plainly obvious. Even partial truths weren't enough.

Team RWBY was comprised of some of the most interesting girls he'd ever seen in his life, excluding his sisters. The four girls were all so different in so many ways. Be it personality, weapons, fighting style, auras, likes and dislikes, or looks.

Ruby, the Red Reaper, as he privately called her, the leader of Team RWBY, was nothing short of cute. She had once made these undeniably irresistible puppy eyes at Jaune in order to get him to buy her cookies. But her cute look was backed up by a sniper rifle-scythe hybrid that dealt some massive damage, so she was no pushover. She would seriously hurt anyone that messed with her friends and family.

Weiss, the Snow Angel, as he still called her despite no longer harboring a boy crush on her, was one of the more difficult girls to get along with initially. She was a bit conceited, haughty, and cold. But she wasn't all that bad, as he had witnessed over the past few months. More and more, she had spoken to him not out of forced politeness, but out of a genuine interest to get to know him. He liked this Weiss better.

Blake, the most mysterious and elusive of the team, was still a mystery despite what he knew about her. She was a Faunus, which surprised him a little bit, but at the same time it didn't. It explained her defense of Faunus. She was the bookish type, always reading whenever possible, but she was slowly opening up to everyone more. He hadn't really talked to her that much, but he didn't have to in order to realize that she was a good soul and would fight for everyone if possible.

Maybe he ought to try and talk to her more often.

Yang, she was… trouble. She was a major tease for guys all around, and she had the looks to back it up. A rather… eye-catching body, beautiful lilac eyes, golden-blonde hair, and the practiced alluring looks that she gave. Of course she could take on any moron who wanted to get too close to her, and she'd probably kill anyone who harmed her baby sister Ruby. It was understandable, he realized. He had sisters who were protective of him as well.

Why was he reiterating things he already knew about Team RWBY? Because for one thing, they were sitting across from him and Team JNPR, his own team at the cafeteria. They always sat in the same way: across from each other.

And the second reason… well he didn't really have a second reason. He just did it on a whim. It wouldn't be the first time that he rambled in his mind. He did it enough when he talked normally. Of course everyone had gotten used to it. Yang still teased him about it.

Speaking of Yang, she was just so conveniently sitting across from him with a grin that he wasn't sure meant good or bad things.

Then Jaune realized what might've happened. He had been staring straight ahead, directly at Yang.

He held what little composure he possessed.

"Jaune," she leaned forward. "What's so interesting about me that you'd stare?"

"W-What," he stuttered. "I d-didn't d-do it!"

No matter how much he tried to prepare himself for moments like this, Yang's teasing effortlessly tore through his defenses and made him into a complete mess, and she enjoyed doing it as well.

"You don't think I noticed you staring," Yang smirked. "That's okay. I can't help that I'm so… gifted in the right areas."

Before Jaune could spout any further words of nonsense, he felt a sudden pressure against his hand. He didn't have to turn his eyes to know that it was his friend and partner, Pyrrha Nikos.

"That's enough, Yang," the redhead scolded. "Don't give my partner a heart attack."

Jaune calmed down considerably with the reassuring grip of Pyrrha's hand.

"Chillax, P-money," Yang smiled. "Just having a little fun. No need to be jealous that I'm so good at getting attention."

The flash of annoyance that Pyrrha displayed was foreign to the blond boy. He had rarely seen Pyrrha angry; she'd always carried the most genuine smile he'd ever seen. It wasn't just annoyance that colored his partner's features either, Jaune's instinct told him that there was something else he was missing.

He removed his hand from Pyrrha's grip.

"It's okay, Pyrrha" Jaune turned to her. "I was just… thinking about home."

It was a lie, but it was better to tell a small lie and save himself the embarrassment. Thankfully, nobody seemed to pick up on it and just went with it.

So maybe lying in certain situations wasn't so bad.

"You don't talk much about home, Jaune," Ruby chimed in.

He shrugged. "You guys didn't ask about it, so I didn't say anything about it."

"So why think about your family now," Blake asked. "What brought this on?"

"I just… haven't talked to them for a while," Jaune spoke. "My parents… they didn't really expect me to excel here. I came to prove them wrong."

Nobody said anything, and Jaune took that as his cue to continue.

"How depressing is that? My own parents, not believing I could become a huntsman? They said not to worry if I had to move back home. I can remember that exact moment so clearly."

Jaune's laugh was anything but real. It was devoid of any sort of emotion, and was just merely done, like a machine carrying out a program. To the seven friends around him, this was arguably the worst sort of reaction to expect from him.

"I'm sure they were just trying to protect you," Pyrrha said. "Parents always worry about their children."

Jaune didn't look at his partner because he wasn't sure how he could do so without seeming unaffected by her attempt to cheer him up. It wasn't that he didn't feel grateful that Pyrrha was trying to think of a way to cheer him up, but she was Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who was famous, who everyone believed in. How could he expect her to understand being nigh-invisible, being a nobody?

Untrained, unskilled.

Need more be said?

Jaune chose to ignore Pyrrha's comment in an attempt to sound neutral and just continue on.

"I don't blame them for not believing." Jaune pressed his lips together. "I came to Beacon with very little combat experience. I've only become decent in these past few months, but I've got years ahead of me if I'm ever to be at the league you guys are."

He didn't notice, but all the other seven hunters-in-training were now giving him looks, all of them mixed with different feelings.

"I… I really should go train," Jaune stood up. "I'll see you guys later."

Before anyone could object to his absence, he threw his partially-eaten lunch into a trash bin and with surprising speed got out of the busy cafeteria.

Nora looked to Ren, who shrugged his shoulders. Pyrrha looked hurt, like she didn't get what she was seeking. Ruby had a longing look. Weiss returned to her food, but had a strange expression on her face. Blake looked like she was deep in thought.

Yang stared the hardest at where Jaune had gone, her mind considering what she had just heard from her fellow blond. Somewhere in the back of her head, she was reminded of her life many years ago. His words had allowed certain memories to resurface of a time that wasn't pleasant for her.

For all of his faults, Jaune wasn't a bad guy. Far from it, from what she had seen. He was a good guy at his core, having the right heart and mind to become a huntsman, just like Ruby. That kind of person didn't deserve to be so self-deprecating. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right.

So she made a decision.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune sat on the roof of the school dormitory. The sun was beginning to dip down from the sky. Soon it would be late afternoon, and that meant it was Friday evening. People would probably be doing all kinds of things for the weekend. Some students might've already left Beacon and gone down to Vale.

He was here because he needed to get away from the depressing atmosphere that had unwittingly been created in the cafeteria.

It wasn't that he didn't ever want to talk about past events, but this one in particular relating to his family did hurt. Even now, he was still hurt by their lack of faith in him when he'd left his home.

Jaune hadn't heard from them in the months since then. He had send them his grades for the semester, which were surprisingly good considering how he had come to Beacon. Combat class was still his weakest class, but he had either good or excellent grades elsewhere and that was in no small thanks to his teammates supporting him.

He just hoped that his parents would be impressed by it and acknowledge that he did indeed have the potential. Maybe then, his parents would stop discouraging him from becoming a huntsman.

And speaking of bad feelings, Jaune chided himself for being a bit of a jerk back there. Pyrrha was just trying to help him and he'd pushed her away like it didn't matter. She'd done her fair share to help him get this far. He was thinking of ways to try and fix what he had done, he owed her that much.

"Hey, Jaune," a voice called out.

That was the last voice he expected to hear up here, and seeking him out, of all people. Jaune turned his head to make sure his hearing wasn't deceiving him.

And it wasn't. Yang Xiao Long stood there, hands on her hips.

"Hey," he smiled weakly.

"Whatcha doin' up here," Yang took a seat beside him on the ledge. "You're never up here unless you're training with Pyrrha."

"Just… I don't know what came over me at lunch," he admitted. "I love my family like nothing else in the world matters, but the thing is, it isn't perfect. I just wanted to show them that I don't have to be coddled all the time."

Yang, for once in a conversation with Jaune, didn't resort to teasing him. This was a serious topic for Jaune she could see. Ruining it would be a real stupid thing to be doing right now. The blonde brawler was many things, but she wasn't senseless.

"Don't we all." Yang sighed. "I know that when we began the school year I didn't have a good opinion of you, so I didn't bother to get to know you better. Truthfully, I still don't know you that well, but one thing's for sure: you're better. That has to count for something."

Somehow, those words, as mixed as they were, brought Jaune's full attention to her. She looked into her lap as she continued on.

"Jaune," she exhaled. "You're a good guy. A really good guy, like the best I've seen, alongside Ren. I've seen lots of guys in my time. Most of them were… were idiots and morons, and they were looking for a good time. In your position, they'd be hitting on all of the girls in our little entourage, and trying to get real cozy too."

Yang looked up and faced Jaune.

"But you don't," Yang smiled. "Well, at least not to most of us."

Jaune blushed a little at what she was getting at.

"The point is," she refocused herself. "You're not looking to get into a girl's pants. You're looking to get to know them. That's the kind of thing that's rare these days it seems. Maybe I'm hanging with the wrong crowd, but it gets tiring when good looks are the only thing that matters."

Jaune looked just a bit flustered by the very unexpected compliments from the girl that he least expected the words to come from. Her rather blunt language was a bit unsettling for him to hear.

"To see you, the kind of person I admire, suffer like this?" She pointed to him. "That hits me. I don't want to see you like that."

Jaune's eyes were lit with not only surprise, but amazement, and a bit of pride. But most importantly, Yang could see he was… smiling through his eyes, even if his mouth wasn't smiling. That somehow lifted her spirits up as well.

"So how about this," she suggested. "I'll be a better friend to you and start trying to get to know you better, like really."

"Yang," Jaune looked uncertain. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't need pity. I was just in a bad place, but I'm still alive and kicking. If anything, I'm happy with what I've got now."

"Your modesty does you credit," Yang laughed. "But being a little selfish isn't wrong, Jaune. And I'm not doing this out of pity. I'm doing this because I want to be a better friend."

It was now Jaune's turn to look into his lap, his mind ablaze with questions and emotions and all the things in between. This was… this was… was this even real?

Yang Xiao Long wanted to go out of her own way just to get to know him better? Was there something wrong with him? Or maybe something was up with her? Or maybe they both were in a weird place?

What to do?

"Please, Jaune," Yang begged. "For me."

That begging look, it was a look that Jaune felt drawn to. Regardless of whether or not he could fight, being there for people was what he did. It was as natural to him as breathing. Even if he didn'tfully understand why Yang had taken the initiative to know him better, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

His shoulders gave away the obvious tension in his posture.

"Yeah," he managed. "But I'm not looking for anything out of this friendship. I just want to be friends."

"And that's just fine with me," Yang nodded. "I'm not looking for anything particular either. Any real friends I can get is a friend I'll take."

"Thanks, Yang," Jaune murmured. "It means a lot to me."

"Anytime, vomit boy," she teased.

"And the moment's gone," Jaune groaned.

She giggled at his response, but was far from discouraged.

"So," Jaune stared into the setting sun. "As friends getting to know each other, what are we going to do?"

Yang sat back a bit and her face turned into a thoughtful one. What could be fun for both of them to do?

Then Yang got an idea.

"You doin' anything tonight," Yang asked.

"No." Jaune looked confused.

"Cool," the brawler grinned, "I think I've got something we can try."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"So, where were you, sis," Ruby asked.

Yang had returned to the dorm to get a few things. A few lien, some other odds and ends, nothing too much though.

"And where are you going now?" Weiss added on.

"Why do you guys thinking I'm going anywhere?" Yang turned to her teammates.

"You look like you're packing to go somewhere," Blake spoke. "and if I know you as well as I think I do; I know you don't prepare ahead."

Blake wouldn't be Blake if she didn't notice these things about her teammates. Yang knew she couldn't play this one off, so she just spoke truth.

"Jaune needs someone to take his mind off the bad stuff he's thinking about today," Yang said. "As his fellow blonde and good friend, I've decided to take him out somewhere."

"You," Ruby looked shocked. "Since when do you ever hang out with Jaune?"

Yang shot her younger sister a dirty look.

"So," the blonde exclaimed. "What's the problem?"

"It's simply that you've never taken an interest in doing anything with Jaune," Weiss continued. "Why now?"

"Can't I just want to," Yang demanded. "And besides, when have I ever been anything but spontaneous?"

"Fair point," Blake conceded.

The others were quick to agree.

"So anyway," Yang sighed in annoyance, "I'm taking him out, as a good friend, and trying to see if there's anything we can connect with."

"How long will you be gone," Ruby asked. "You know that Professor Goodwitch will kill you guys if you don't get back past curfew."

"Little sis," Yang patted her on the head, "It's Friday. The night's not even here. And besides, I think we're both able to take on anything that comes our way."

"That's not what I meant," Ruby sighed. "You know what? Just go, but… don't do anything stupid."

"You're agreeing with this," Weiss looked thunderstruck. "This is your sister, our teammate. Discipline her."

"Weiss cream," Yang feigned a scold. "I'm surprised that you'd ever think I'm not trustworthy."

"Let them go guys," Blake shrugged. "If anything, Jaune can make sure she doesn't do anything she'll regret."

"Exactly," Yang agreed. "You guys know how Jaune is."

None of them could say that Jaune Arc was irresponsible. Even if he was a doofus, he knew what was right and what wasn't right. He'd make sure to keep Yang in line when it needed to be done.

"So I'm off," Yang called out. "Don't do anything too exciting while I'm gone."

"You know us," Blake sighed. "Always in the middle of the action."

Flashing her partner a satisfied grin, Yang closed the door to find that Jaune was waiting for her, looking almost no different than before. The only real difference Yang could see was that he had switched into a white hoodie and some black jeans. He looked like he was trying to appear casual, but looked a bit frightened.

"Hey there, lady killer," she greeted. "Why so serious?"

"This is just something I've never done, you know," Jaune ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, so what are we doing?"

"Going to Vale," Yang explained. "You'll see once we get there."

Jaune wanted to question this rather vague explanation, but ultimately, he didn't want to ruin whatever it was that Yang wanted to do. It just would be really awful of him as friend, so he kept his mouth shut despite his instincts telling him to reconsider carefully.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

It was with forced effort that Jaune had actually entered the establishment that Yang wanted them to.

A club.

Where there was alcohol.

And shady characters.

And… whatever else was there. Jaune didn't know squat about clubs. He could thank certain family members for that. Every family member.

Of course Yang had insisted that she knew the place well, which didn't make Jaune feel any better about this planned event.

"Come on, Jaune" Yang whined. "Just relax."

"I've never been to these kinds of places," Jaune whined back. "And I've never drank alcohol before."

"Then don't," Yang pulled him forward. "Just lean on the bar, act casual, and we'll talk."

Not willing to argue further with Yang, Jaune just allowed her to guide them to the bar. The man at the bar seemed to reel back like he was expecting something back to happen when he caught sight of them.

"Blondie," he grunted. "Do I want to know why you're here."

"Just for a drink," Yang chirped. "Don't worry, Junior. I won't destroy anything. Promise."

"Right," he answered skeptically. "So what'll it be?"

"Two strawberry sunrises," she ordered. "No ice."

The man reluctantly went to mix the drink. Jaune noticed the short but rather tense exchange between the two of them and that's why he couldn't stop himself from asking the question.

"So what happened between you two," he inquired.

"You saw that," Yang stated. "We've got some… past history."

"This ought to be good," Jaune braced himself. "So what happened?"

So Yang spoke about event back before Beacon Academy, how she'd been looking for someone, and came here because Hei Xiong, aka Junior, knew all the talk in the city of Vale, or so she'd thought. He didn't know anything, and she'd destroyed the club to make a long story short.

"So everyone giving you the glare," Jaune gestured to relatively large crowd. "I take it they're the ones that got caught in the crossfire."

"Something like that," Yang responded. "It's their fault for getting caught up in it. If they were smart, they wouldn't have gotten in the way."

"I hear that," Jaune chuckled.

Yang noticed that Jaune seemed to be looking longingly at the dance floor. This instantly piqued her interest. If that look was what she thought it was, there might be something they could do together yet.

The sound of glass tinkling nearby caused them both to turn and see the two drinks set before them. Junior set the bill between the two and left them to their own devices, but still kept an eye on them just the same.

Yang began to drink away, but Jaune was more tentative with his. Watching him do this was like torture to her. The drink wasn't strong in the least, and even if was, Jaune had an aura to help him filter the alcohol content.

"Just drink it," Yang growled. "I promise you that you won't die."

The blond boy gave Yang a final look before tipping the glass and taking a sip. His expression didn't indicate whether he liked it or not, but then he began to drink it like she was.

"So," she asked.

"Not bad," he concluded. "Why?"

"Just glad you can drink it," Yang replied.

They were silent for a few moments, listening only to the music that blared around them. Aside from a few of Junior's men, there were some other normal people in the club as well. It was a"business as usual" sort of atmosphere.

"Do you like dancing Yang," Jaune suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Yang said immediately. "Why, you wanna dance?"

"Actually, yes," Jaune put down his empty glass. "I don't know why, but I'm feeling the mood."

"Cool," she stood straight. "You any good?"

"I'd like to think so," Jaune said. "But I guess we'll see."

Together, the two of them stepped onto the dance floor. It was crowded, and it took them a minute to find a decent spot that afforded enough room to actually make a few moves.

Once a new song started, the two of them began to bust out some moves.

As they danced, Yang began to realize one thing: Jaune wasn't good at dancing.

He was amazing at it.

The way he moved, it didn't look practiced, but rather natural and smooth. His footwork was phenomenal as he switched up every now and then. His expression indicated a person who wasn't just doing this, but a person who liked to do it. Yang was actually finding herself challenged by someone who could match her in skill on the dancefloor.

As their dancing intensified, they failed to notice that they were attracting attention due to the more advanced moves being utilized by both dancers. However, the two of them weren't focused on the gathering crowd, but rather on each other.

For the first time, Yang actually took the time to look into his eyes. They were sapphire-blue, and so bare and truthful. She could look into them and see the kind of person Jaune was. He was loyal, truthful, compassionate, brave, and selfless. These were the sorts of things that made a good huntsman, but also a great Human being.

Jaune too looked into Yang's lilac eyes, and like his fellow blond, he could read her in that instant. She was passionate, a kickass fighter, determined, stubborn, and confident. Those were the obvious things. However, if one looked closer, there was also something else there, and Jaune swore that he was seeing things, but as he stared harder into her eyes, and it became clear what he was seeing.

Pain.

This prompted him to suddenly embrace Yang, who didn't object to this sudden contact as she too laced her arms around his neck. There was very little distance between them, their breaths felt hot against their faces. Blue met lilac and they ceased dancing. All distractions were blocked out by the intensensity between the two of them.

Both were nervous; Jaune had never been this close to a girl, not even Pyrrha. He wasn't sure what to say to that fact. Yang was just a bit frightened. She had never allowed any guy to get even this far. She was a tease, and that's all she did to guys.

"Alright people, enough," Junior called out. "Leave them be."

Whether Junior was doing them both a favor or getting back at Yang, it didn't matter anymore. There was a bit of a groan as everyone was slowly forced away from the moment. Both Jaune and Yang became aware of what was happening, and they backed away from each other, blushing madly.

"My fault," Jaune blurted. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay," Yang assured. "It was… nice?"

"So… " Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "You wanna go home?"

"Yeah," Yang said quickly. "I would."

It was then that Jaune absent-mindedly checked his watch and realized that they had spent so long out here that the last airship to Beacon was long gone.

"Yang," Jaune looked up. "Do you realize what time it is?"

"No," the brawler looked puzzled.

"The last airship to Beacon left an hour ago," Jaune reported. "We'll have to wait till morning to get back."

"What," Yang looked slightly panicked. "Seriously?!"

She noticed the watch on his arm and grabbed his wrist forcefully to see what time it was. When she saw it, she let out a loud curse.

"This is bad," Yang began to ramble. "This is really bad. Ruby's going to be so pissed when I get back. Weiss'll probably lecture my ears off. Blake… I don't know what she'll do, but it can't be good."

Watching the normally calm and collected Yang go into a state of semi-panic left him frowning. They were stuck here for the night, and once they got back, there would no doubt be a really troublesome welcoming from both of their teams. Pyrrha would undoubtedly fuss over him, Ren would be worried subtly, and Nora would crush him into her unnaturally strong hugs until he promised to never do what he did again.

But that wasn't important now. What was important was finding a place to call home for the night.

Home.

Home.

Home away from home.

Jaune's face then lit up as he remembered something that he had completely forgotten about the entire semester.

Turning back to Yang, he saw her still making a fuss.

"Yang," he called to her.

"What are we gonna do Jaune," she turned to him. "We've got nowhere to go."

"Actually," Jaune said. "I do know a place where we can crash for the night."

"Really," Yang grabbed his shoulders. "Where!?"

"Just follow me," he assured her.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

It was late in the night by the time that Jaune and Yang got to where they were supposed to be going. Yang wasn't exactly sure where in the world they were going, but Jaune seemed to know what he was doing, and she trusted him.

What she didn't expect was when they left the more crowded parts of Vale and went into the surrounding rural areas.

"Are we there yet," Yang asked.

"Around the corner," Jaune motioned.

Once they did turn the corner, they came upon identical apartment buildings that stretched out to the end of the street. Yang's eyes looked left and right; there was no one around, no life whatsoever.

Reaching into his pocket, Jaune retrieved the set of keys he'd had with him. His parents had said to always have them with him, and now he was grateful that they ingrained this in his mind. Otherwise this wouldn't be possible.

"Yang," Jaune turned to her. "Over here."

Yang was shaken from her thoughts and quickly followed him as he unlocked the door to one of the apartments. When he flicked the lights on, he turned to watch her, still on the front steps.

"Do you… want to come in," he asked.

Yang was having her own thoughts. This was the first time that she'd ever been to a guy's place of residence, or at least that was what she presumed this was. It was sort of freaky for her, but it was Jaune. He was only doing this because they were both in a bad spot; nothing was going to happen.

Yang stepped into the apartment and took a look around.

For an apartment, it was surprisingly roomy, like it was expected that at least ten people were going to be living here. The main living room was decorated very simply, but also quite nicely. The walls were painted a bright yellow, and the furniture was pitch-black, making it stand out. Framed photos lined each wall.

Yang was instantly drawn to the sight of what looked to be a younger Jaune and several other girls, most of them bearing some sort of similarity to him in one form or another.

"Are these your… sisters," Yang asked.

"Yeah," Jaune closed and locked the door. "I've got seven of them."

"SEVEN," Yang exclaimed. "How do you deal with that?!"

"You take it in strides," he smiled. "But they mean the world to me."

"I can see that," Yang replied. "Do you guys always have this much fun?"

"As much as we can," Jaune affirmed.

Seeing that Jaune had older and younger siblings put him a new light, and now she knew that he understood her and Ruby. She had a newfound respect for him that she hadn't had before.

Her eyes turned to a framed photo that looked significantly older than the others. The picture showed a man that bore a striking resemblance to Jaune, but still had some characteristics that were unique. Green eyes instead of blue, brown hair instead of blond hair, and a slight beard. Next to the man was a woman, with vibrant blond hair, crystal-blue eyes, and possibly the most beautiful smile Yang had ever seen.

"My parents," Jaune joined Yang. "Oliver Arc and Daisy Arc."

Yang's eyes didn't move from the photo as she committed said photo to memory. In a way, she felt slight jealousy that Jaune seemed to have an almost-perfect family. A mother, a father, and lots of siblings to look after him. She wished that she could say the same.

"I bet they're awesome parents," Yang finally spoke.

"They are," he sighed. "That being said, we've… got our differences. Apart from sending them my semester grades, I still haven't found the time to send them a letter. And I haven't heard from them in months."

His voice was shaky, and he looked really downtrodden. She turned to look at him, and he was eyeing the ground, a reminiscent look in his eyes. There he was again, feeling down. She had to do something.

Yang embraced him tightly, her eyes closing as she just took some comfort in the quiet moment. He didn't reciprocate the action at first, but then she felt his arms around her, and she felt their bodies move closer to each other.

Yang had once been told by her father, Taiyang, that there will always be a moment or moments in life when one simply takes joy in simple things like a hug. Hugs were meant to show affection, caring, and friendship. However, the best kinds were the ones that were genuine, emotional, and tender. Those sort of embraces were the kind that one never wanted to break away from, and could simply accept for so long that time would lose meaning.

Right now, Yang felt that way.

The two of them faced each other, their proximity once again very minimal. This time though, there was nothing around and no one around to interrupt them. Just the two of them in this place.

Jaune felt his body heat up, his heart beat heavily against his chest, his hands feeling a bit unsteady. What was going on between them now? What was this strange but nice feeling?

Yang too was questioning what was happening, it was one of those inexplicable moments. Her entire mind was ablaze with wonder.

Before they knew it, their lips touched hesitantly, pressing gently against each other. It was an innocent kiss, no pushing or shoving against one another, no tongues trying to war with each other, no moans of pleasure. Just a simple kiss.

But calling it simple would not be doing it justice either. Both of them were feeling excited, surprised, happy, and fearful.

They separated to get air, their gasps harsh and sudden. Both of them looked to each other for signs of disgust, betrayal, anger, hatred, anything that would indicate this was an undesirable course of action.

There were none of those things.

"Yang," he whispered.

"Jaune," she reached with both hands to cup his face.

Without another word, they lip-locked again, this time, it was no longer a simple kiss, but one fueled by something else, something the two knew about, but weren't experienced with. It had a name, but was it really something to be described with words? Whatever it was, their movements became more desperate, their bodies pressed heavily against each other, their lips no longer just touching, but fighting.

Jaune's mind was cheering as he took in this moment. This was his first kiss, and boy did it exceed his greatest expectations tenfold, and then some. He wasn't sure he was getting it right. He went with what felt natural and right, and he was also going off how Yang was responding. The slight moans and breathy sighs in between kisses seemed to suggest she was somehow pleased.

Yang too was thinking a million thoughts at once. She'd never admit it to anyone, but she'd never had a real boyfriend before. In actuality, she didn't have any more experience than Jaune had in kissing. She just knew how to flirt with boys, how to get them to do what she wanted them to do. This was new, and uncharted territory for her, but if it felt this good now, she shivered to think what was to come.

Their now frenzied passion had somehow led them to a bedroom, with Jaune clumsily guiding them both into the dark room, the lit living room now forgotten.

In the back of their minds, they were warning signs for them to stop this before it got out of hand. Both of them were perfectly aware of what would happen if this was to continue. One thing was leading to another thing, and the last thing they both needed were serious complications to add to their life.

Why now had this suddenly come up? Why were two friends now tangling their bodies up and doing this? What had caused this sudden flare of desire?

Jaune unconsciously detached himself from her lips and began to focus his attention on her neck. His lips against her skin felt extremely arousing, and Yang pulled on his hair, trying to stifle her gasps, but to no avail. Feeling the need to get back in control before Jaune could hold anything over her, she forced herself away, noticing the bed behind them. She used her strength to push him onto the bed.

His yelp of surprise was silenced as she climbed on the bed as well, straddling him. Her eyes searched his for any signs of disapproval and he did the same. When they both silently said yes, she found his lips again, and he returned her fervor.

They should have stopped. It would have been the right thing to do, most people would say. They were friends, and friends didn't do this sort of thing, but they were no longer in any position to stop what they were doing. Sure, they could make excuses that it wasn't something they could stop, or that they couldn't stop because they weren't in control.

Yet, that wasn't the case here. They were fully in control of themselves, and they were more than capable of stopping.

They simply chose not to.

Because they both wanted it.

Their auras flaring brightly, white against yellow.

Lilac eye against sapphire eyes.

Pure bliss.

* * *

 **Welcome to my experimental stages with intimate moments. I do admit that I've read some real explicit smut in the RWBY sections, and that's not the sort of thing I want to write about. The moment I see the derogatory words for certain body parts, I just know that it's like watching… porn. Yes, I've seen porn, and trust me, that is different from sex.**

 **So anyway, I've toyed with this idea for a long time, and honestly, I can't be too sure that this is genuine or real to believe, but I wanted to get it out to the community because I felt I should at least try. If nothing else, it's going to teach me a lot about how I write and how to better work on character-focused stories.**

 **So if you guys want to see more of this story, then review. If you love it and want more, let me know. If you hated it, tell me what I could improve. Feedback and comments are greatly appreciated.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this pilot chapter, and remember:**

 ** _"One fails forward toward success."_**

 **Charles Kettering**

 **Peace!**


	2. Ch 2: What Are We?

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Updated: (1/6/17)

Chapter 2: What Are We?

 **Somewhere in Vale…**

Yang felt especially warm that morning as she began to regain consciousness, but she wasn't burning up. It was just the right amount of warmth. She pressed more into the source and basked in it as much as she could. Any moment now and one of her teammates would wake her up. She wasn't the best at getting up in a timely manner.

She shifted just a little bit to get more comfortable, and then felt something underneath her, something distinctly Human-shaped. Opening her eyes with a light groan, she looked down at what she was lying on top of

Her eyes widened immensely.

Jaune Arc, the doofus of a friend that she shared with six other friends, was lying beneath her. He wore nothing, his head tilted slightly to the left as he slept. His eyes were closed; he looked well-rested and didn't show any signs of discomfort with her on top of him.

Yang was confused for the briefest of moment.

Why they were like this? What happened?

She backtracked the best she could.

It didn't take Yang long to realize why she and he were in this position.

The night before came back to her in a series of flashes. She remembered all of it in very clear detail.

The refreshing drinks, the idle chatting, the sound of dance music, the sight of superb dancing, the intense rawness of emotion between them, the pools of his blue eyes...

More memories surfaced. The ecstatic feeling of skin against skin, the sensations that were new to her but extremely welcome, the tenderness of his hands, the uncontrollable passion, the feeling of her own aura and semblance flaring even if an afterthought, the feeling of another soul touching her own, the feeling of a peak beyond any ever felt...

Yang's first reaction was astonishment. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she'd get this far, not until at least later in her life. Maybe in a few more years, she could imagine herself doing this, but now of all times?

Her second reaction was uncertainty. What did this mean for her and Jaune now? She had allowed this to happen as he had as well. Could they really look at each other the same way now? They had given themselves to each other for Oum's sake.

What would the others think if they found out?

Her third reaction was dread. She had set out to be Jaune's friend, not to sleep with him. That thought had never crossed her mind even in the slightest, not when she first planned this.

What would he think of her now? Would he think negatively of her? Would he think this was her toying with him?

Her mind shifted focus. What they had done here, what did she think about it? What it wrong? Did she feel any sort of regret?

Yang's eyes fell on the sleeping form of Jaune as he mumbled lightly in his sleep, looking very content. She smiled at this and traced his jawline with her right hand. This was definitely one of those adorkable moments her fellow blond displayed. He looked the best she had ever seen him.

Her fingers's touch was feather-soft so as not to wake him.

Her attention on Jaune, Yang's mind began to settle down as her calmer side took over. Thinking back on what they had done, Yang realized one thing: not a single moment was awkward, forced, or otherwise unwanted. Discounting their initial fumbling due to it being their first time ever, it was all pure and absolute bliss.

Jaune the whole time had been attentive to her, and she in turn tried to be attentive to him. The act was both selfish and selfless all in one. It was a want for pleasure, but that pleasure was granted by each other, and they lapped up every single moment in earnest.

So what did she think about what they did?

It was amazing.

Was it wrong?

They both were on cloud nine the whole time it felt like. What was there to feel wrong about?

Did she regret any part of it?

She did not. At all.

Then a dangerous thought entered her mind. Jaune didn't know it, but Pyrrha Nikos was completely enamored with him, no questions asked. All of Team RWBY as well as Ren and Nora knew this. Jaune, being himself, failed to see this.

And Yang just had sex with him.

Really good sex.

That was going to cause just a little bit of a problem if said redhead in question ever discovered this. Yang wouldn't be surprised if Pyrrha came to blows. The girl was very into Jaune.

But then something else came to mind. Yang had never considered Jaune in any romantic way. It wasn't because he wasn't attractive, because he was now that she looked at him, and it wasn't because of his character, which was not in question at all. It was mainly because she didn't think he fit into Beacon at all.

If Yang had to describe Jaune in one word when she first met him, it was normal. That wasn't what she wanted.

As a thrill-seeker, she always wanted adventure and thrills and excitement. Jaune never struck her as that type, and so she didn't even give a second thought to him. And he never hit on her to begin with, another reason not to think of him as a potential boyfriend or friend for that matter

That was fine with her.

But last night...

Yang felt demurred. He hadn't done anything to make her push away from him. That was all that mattered at the time. However, they just did it without really questioning it.

Looking back, she recounted the reason to why she took Jaune out: to become his friend. That goal was being fulfilled, but it wasn't until that dance that things began to take off. Yang enjoyed dancing, almost as much as fighting, and it caught her off guard when Jaune danced on equal footing with her, and possibly outclassed her. That was the first time she'd taken note of a skill Jaune possessed that was at least as good as her own.

And Yang couldn't believe she hadn't ever stopped to look at him enough and see just how much those blue eyes really did show who he was. All of his emotions and feelings were out in the open. Whether it was intentional or in the heat of the moment, Jaune had made his emotions seen, and what Yang saw was something she once saw in herself.

Doubt.

Self-destruction.

Fear.

Jaune Arc was more than a kid with a shield and sword and limited training. He was more than a clumsy, socially awkward, and oblivious guy.

Yang Xiao Long knew what to look for because once before she was a brawler with twin shotgun gauntlets called Ember Celica, before she had aura or a semblance, she was like him in a sense.

That part of her life was one she never wanted to think about again, but she had to now that she saw it in him. Knowing the pain he felt, she had more than just a desire to help him. She felt obligated to help him.

What they had last night, it wasn't love, not really. It was more like friends with a mutual pain seeking each other out to heal each other. Would sexual healing be the right phrase to use? It might even be a good joke if this situation weren't so serious.

So maybe she didn't have much to worry about because she wasn't in love with Jaune, nor was he in love with her. So there was no need for any drama between them. There was no need for anyone to know what happened.

Yang ceased her questions. Things were still looking up.

Now more settled, Yang gazed at Jaune again, this time taking in some features that she hadn't cared to notice in her time she had known him. His hair was actually quite bright, almost as bright as his own, and very soft. His jawline and chin contained a very light amount of stubble, hard to see, but as her hands lightly traced his face, she could feel a slight prick against her fingers. His nose was rather small and actually very delicate-looking.

He had some growing to do.

But her appraisal?

Cute.

Yang felt Jaune shift under her, as he slowly began to stir from his sleep.

She held her breath as he opened his eyes and looked up to her.

Jaune wasn't the sort of person that reacted well to surprises, so she wouldn't fault him if he reacted poorly, and if last night's events were in his mind, then it might make him freak out even more.

But he did none of these things. He simply looked into her eyes, and she did the same. The silence between them was palpable. Yang began to feel herself worry at his silence. This was not how Jaune reacted to stuff of this magnitude. His lack of words was worse than his normal reaction because his stuttering was familiar.

This wasn't.

Finally, he spoke.

"Is this real?"

Time to go in guns blazing, speak plain and simple.

"It's real. We did it."

Again, another valley of silence ensued. It looked like he was processing in the same manner that she had done minutes earlier. She let him, watching his expressions for signs of good or bad indications. Yang held her breath, waiting for the worst to happen.

While he didn't look like he regretted this in any way, it didn't feel like they were in the clear just yet.

"Do you… do you regret what we did, Yang?"

Well, that was an easy question to answer.

"Not at all. I know it wasn't what either of us expected, but... I've got nothing to complain about. What about you?"

She tried to speak casually though privately, she hoped he wouldn't have any regrets. If he did, it would make this even more complicated, and Yang would be left with the guilt of doing something he wasn't prepared or ready for.

Or both.

The feeling of his hand taking her own caused her to gasp lightly, but she calmed instantly as the feeling of assurance swept up.

"Would you be mad if I said I don't regret it," Jaune inquired.

"No." She gripped his hand. "That was... an experience, something I'm not going to forget, and I'm not just talking about the sex."

She shifted herself so that she was looking him dead in the eye.

"It felt like…" She thought for a moment. "It felt like did more than that. Is that just me?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, I felt it too. Still, I can't help but feel we broke some rule."

"We were both in a really painful place," she mused. "And we were simply there for each other. You didn't seem like you wanted us to stop."

"I guess." Jaune stared at their intertwined hands.

"Look, I don't want to make our relationship any more complicated than it has to be, so I'll ask you this Jaune. Do you love me?"

"Would you be mad if I said no again?"

"No, because I'm not in love with you either. What we did last night was because we needed some comfort in each other. That's it."

"So… where does that leave us?" Jaune continued to hold her hand gently.

"We're friends," Yang shrugged. "That's what I was aiming for."

"Are we?" Jaune gazed at her. "Do friends do this sort of thing?"

"Okay, so we're close friends," Yang rationalized. "Really close friends. Really close friends with benefits."

"Right," Jaune replied. He didn't sound like he believed it.

"Not convinced enough?" Yang sat up slightly, still straddling him, a bit of a foxy grin on her face.

"No," he said immediately, anxiousness filling his features. "I can't even tell you in words how last night felt."

"I can." She grinned wider. "Beyond my wildest imaginations. Heart-pounding. Euphoric. Now I know for sure that it's going to be harder to look at masturbation the same way."

"Okay, whoa." Jaune looked squeamish. "I didn't need to hear that."

"Seriously?" She smacked him. "We just had the the best night of our lives, gave ourselves to each other, and you don't wanna hear about my playing? Doesn't that turn you on?"

"Yang," he scolded. "TMI."

"Wimp," she muttered.

"It's just, before this, girls didn't even so much as look my way. Now I just went all the way with you of all people. This is so new to me."

 _If only you knew how Pyrrha felt, Jaune. If only._

"Get in line, vomit boy. But hey, enough of all this serious talk. It's a new day. What now?"

"Well, we probably should shower for one thing."

"Good thinking."

She allowed him to get up, and she did the same thing, her eyes lingering on him a while longer. His entire physique was no longer hidden to her, and she was able to take him in completely. Seeing him bare and the thought of a shower slowly gave way to a very intriguing thought.

"You wanna go first," Jaune offered. "Or should I?"

"Me first," Yang responded. "Always me first… unless you wanna join me?"

She looked to him.

"W-what?!" He looked ready to faint.

"Jaune Arc," she smirked. "Surely you'd like to kick off the day with a Yang!"

If they were in any other situation, Jaune might laugh at her really bad humor.

This was not any other situation.

"I… I, um," he struggled to find his voice. "Wow, um, is it really hot in here?!"

"You know what?" Yang grabbed both his hands, "Just show me where the shower is."

With a few breaths of air, Jaune cleared his head and found enough brain power to guide her to the bathroom where there was a shower waiting with everything needed to get clean. He began to work the shower and turn it on in full. Once he checked to make sure the water was relatively warm, he stepped back

"Here." He pointed. "Soap's over there and shampoo's over there. If you need me, I'll be out in th-"

Whatever he had said, she was no longer listening. She just kept her newfound thought fresh in mind. Still eyeing him very pointedly, she moved forward.

He didn't get a chance to finish what he wanted to say, before he felt himself being pushed by Yang into the shower. He barely was able to keep his footing as she stepped in with him, a look that was so unlike Yang.

"Yang, what on Remna-"

Her lips met his in an instant, and any protest on his part was instantly obliterated by the sensation of her body against his own, and he gave into the feeling. Yang meanwhile prayed that his obliviousness wouldn't go any further, and she felt a shout of victory internally as he responded to her.

They were both getting into this, too much for two people who had just had sex for the first time only mere hours ago. Maybe it would be a good idea to slow their pace down.

Not that they listened to their minds last night or in this moment.

Her senses seemed to be enhanced by the warm water against both of them. The feel of his tongue against hers, his slim, but firm body against her own, his arms encircling her, pulling her closer, his lips against hers.

There was no pain right now. There were no feelings right now.

It was just pure physical need and lust.

They were friends with benefits after all.

When one of his hand subconsciously touched a sensitive spots, her breathing hitched and she said his name with a whimper. She wanted more of that feeling.

Right now.

His response was to gently push her against the shower wall, lifting her up slightly, which made her wrap herself around him and hold him tighter.

Showering had never felt so good.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

It was some time later when the two of them finally found the willpower to break away from each other and actually finish cleaning up for real. Jaune was the first to leave the shower, leaving Yang to attend to her golden-blonde hair. If what Ruby had told him about Yang and her hair was true, then it was to be a while.

Jaune knew they couldn't go back to Beacon with the clothes they left in for the night being as they were completely disheveled; luckily, as this was his family's apartment, there was clothing stocked up in the various closets.

He would have no problem finding something for Yang. For himself, on the other hand, because only two members of the Arc family were male, Jaune was a bit limited in choices.

Pulling open his own closet, Jaune took in what he had available to him as of right now. A full suit and tie was the first thing that entered his vision. He pushed that one to his left. A heavy coat for winter or cold days. A light poncho for rainy days. A grey sweater with a single front pocket. And a light black hoodie with the Arc family symbol in very clear yellow.

Jaune quickly took the hoodie along with one of the t-shirts without really looking at what it had on the front and back. He never payed attention to what t-shirts he wore because he almost always wore a hoodie over any shirt he wore. Finally, some fresh blue jeans, underwear, and some socks rounded out his attire.

Jaune took care to clean up the mess the two of them had made as well as gather their dirty clothes and put them in the washing machine. It wouldn't be a squeaky-clean wash, but it would be enough.

But before he did so, as he put the first article of Yang's clothing into the wash, he realized that he forgot to set something out for her. He sighed, hoping that his sisters wouldn't kill him if they came here and some of their selections were missing.

They'd understand.

Jaune should've let Yang do this, but he knew that if he saw her bare one more time, he might not be able to stop himself. They needed to get back to Beacon and inform their friends that they were okay.

Hbegan to go through his sister's closets for something that was close to Yang's fit. He didn't just pick any pieces of clothing though. This was Yang, and he had a feeling that she steered clear of certain outfits.

Getting the essentials out of the way was easy because he had her bra and underwear for reference, but what else would she wear?

This wasn't the first time that he was asked to judge how a girl looked. His sisters were to be thanked for that.

Jaune closed his eyes and took a really deep breath.

And he smelled the familiar smell of shampoo and steam from the bathroom.

Where Yang was.

 _No,_ he chided himself. _Don't even think about it, Jaune._

With some effort, he forced himself to focus back on the task at hand. A person's attire did speak something about who they were.

So what kind of a person was Yang?

Well, the usual clothes she wore was a clear indication that she wasn't shy in the least. She wasn't afraid of many things. She wore clothes that were comfortable for her and also served to draw attention to herself as well. Whether intentional, a likely possibility, or just by coincidence, another possibility albeit less likely, she wasn't afraid to show off just how attractive she was.

Jaune did notice this when he first met her, but he knew better than to comment on it. However she got attention, what she wore wasn't meant to be really sophisticated that much. That was Weiss's M.O. as far as he knew. There was a simplicity to what Yang preferred.

It was probably best to settle for something very casual and hope for the best.

With that in mind, Jaune set out to find what he needed. It didn't take long to find what he needed. He found a black shirt with the symbol of the kingdom of Vale on it colored white. He then combed through a selection of short, settling on a yellow color.

By the time he finished deciding this, he quietly entered the bathroom, where it sounded like she was finishing up, so he quickly dropped off the stack and with some effort, resisted his body's desires.

Jaune then began to begin a quick drying for their wet clothes. If they were lucky, they might be able to get their clothes cleaned and dried before they left. One thing he checked was their pockets for anything valuable. He found two scrolls, some lien, and some other small things.

Entering the living room, he realized that the lights were still on and shut them off and opted to open the shades and stare off into the morning sun. It was a relatively sunny day, with only a few clouds dotting the sky.

Looking as his scroll, Jaune realized that he had eight messages from Pyrrha asking where he was. The first two were calm, but they progressively got more frantic in tone. Deciding it was time to get this over with, he began to call Pyrrha.

"JAUNE!"

The blond reeled back at how loud his partner shouted his name upon answering his call. Once he could hear again, he saw a clearly distressed Pyrrha along with the rest of his team. Even more unexpected was that Team RWBY was also gathered.

"Where were you guys?!" Ruby was next. "Do you know how much we worried!?"

"We're fine," Jaune spoke calmly. "We got a little carried away with the time, so we crashed at my family's apartment for the night."

"You have an apartment in Vale!?" Nora seemed betrayed.

"And you didn't tell us!?" Ruby looked angry.

"Um… should I have," Jaune asked nervously.

"That's besides the point," Weiss broke in. "Our teammates were gone for the night without any calls and you're worried about parties!?"

Wait, since when did Ruby and Nora want to go to parties?

"Everyone, please." Pyrrha cut off further argument. "What matters is that they're okay."

"So where is Yang," Blake's eyes darted around.

"Getting cleaned up," the blond knight answered. "I hope she's getting done soon."

"Don't count on it." Ruby adopted a pitying look. "It takes her FOREVER to clean her hair."

"You're telling me," Jaune muttered. "So we're going to be taking off soon. We'll be back hopefully before noon time."

Before he could think to hang up the call, he was stopped by his partner.

"When you get back," Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "We are going to talk."

"As will we." Weiss crossed her arms. "We trusted you to get our teammate back home safe and sound."

"Sorry guys," he spoke sheepishly. "It was sort of a wild night. Won't happen again. Arc's promise."

"And an Arc never goes back on his word," the entire gang concluded.

"Hey," Jaune cried. "That's my line."

They all laughed at him and bid him goodbye before ending the call. Putting down the scroll, he leaned against one of the counters nearby and let out a relieved breath. That could've gone worse all things considered.

"Was that our wonderful friends?"

Jaune's head turned to see Yang in the clothes she had prepared for him. He couldn't help his eyes lingering on her for a brief moment. If he was asked to judge her assuming that this was the first time seeing her, he would say that she wasn't in any way uncomfortable with the way she was dressed. That, and the fact that she hadn't commented on his choice told him that he had gotten the outfit right.

He stood up. "Yeah, just checking in. I told them we'd be back before noon."

"Are you sisters going to be mad that you raided their closets?"

"They'll live, because this is only one of their closets."

"For a guy who has seven sisters, I thought you'd know better than to take you siblings' stuff."

"Hey, I've seen Ruby take enough things from you. Do strawberries and cookies ring a bell?"

"Touché," she acknowledged. "So we've got time. What first?"

"We get food." He opened his scroll. "Any ideas?"

"I know a place in downtown Vale." She took the scroll from his hand.

She began to do a search, and once she found the place, she handed it back to Jaune for his approval. He nodded in agreement.

It didn't take long for them to wait for the clothes in the dryer, then quickly dry them. Jaune found a backpack and carefully placed them in folded as neatly as he could manage. Once they made sure everything they had brought was still with them, they took to the streets.

They walked side-by-side, and somewhere between the travel, Yang held his right hand with her left hand, and took the lead. Before Jaune could question it, he remembered what his relationship with Yang was.

They were friends with benefits.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

It didn't take them long to settle down in the simple shop that offered small breakfast items. Because Yang knew the place better than Jaune, he let her choose for him.

They selected a table outside to eat away.

"So." Yang swallowed before speaking. "When did you become such a good dancer?"

"Um." Jaune's hand scratched the back of his head. "It was a talent that I've had for most of my life. I could do better though."

"Are you kidding me," Yang exclaimed. "You are flawless. Don't let anyone tell you different. I was struggling to keep up, and I'm a pro."

"If you say so, Yang. So how did you learn to dance?"

"It sorta came from my own ambition. Before I knew how to fight like I do now, I always admired people who could dance. It was, in my opinion, the next best thing to fighting. I wasn't any good then, but that didn't stop me from trying. I didn't actually really dance like I do now until I went to train with my Uncle Qrow."

"I've heard you and Ruby bring up your uncle, but you two don't talk much about your training with him, or anything substantial about him for that matter."

"It was a tough part of our lives. Our dad wasn't exactly in the best condition to train either of us that much. And he was initially against us training, so Qrow did that for us. It took a lot of work to convince dad that we were capable. When he did come around, he showed us a few tricks of his own."

"What about your mother? Wasn't she around?"

"Yeah," Yang smiled. "Ruby's mother, Summer Rose. She was the best mom ever. She baked us the best cookies and she slayed monsters with style. We were really happy then."

"Ruby's mother? You both have different mothers?"

Yang stopped eating, her eyes set into a hard stare. This was something that she hadn't really wanted to talk about with anyone. It was a personal matter for her, and nobody really needed to get involved. Not even Ruby needed to get involved.

"Did I hit a sensitive spot," Jaune asked timidly.

Yang gritted her teeth, then calmed herself. "I don't talk about her much. My birth mother is not a topic I take lightly."

"I figured that much out," Jaune observed. "So I'm guessing something happened?"

"She left our entire family," Yang breathed with anger. "I was only alive for a week before she took off without warning. Since then, there have been no calls, no letters, nothing. Zilch. It's like I don't matter to her. At all."

Her eyes trained on the center of the table. She could feel her anger slowly bubbling over once again, and she struggled to keep it under wraps. They were in a public place, and explaining any potential collateral damage to her sister and her teammates would be difficult.

Her calming breath seemed to emit fire. Jaune sat up a bit straighter, sensing the change in her demeanor.

"But as much as I hate her for leaving my dad and I, I wanted to know why she left. I wanted to find her. I want answers. So I took Ruby with me and headed off to find her. It was a stupid thing to do, but I was a little kid who didn't understand what was out there."

Her anger ceased and in its place, she fought to keep herself from losing herself.

"Ruby and I should be dead because of my obsession. I couldn't defend my own sister, or even myself for that matter. Beowolves came out of nowhere. Qrow had to pull us out of that fire."

Silence reigned between them. Jaune was trying to come up with a proper response, but finding nothing. He had never seen Yang like this before.

"Ever since that day," she whispered. "I've developed a hated of being weak. I didn't want to have to depend on anyone to save me. So I begged my dad to train me. When he didn't, I turned to Qrow. I might've come back most days with bruises and sores and complaints, but it was worth it to stop the feeling of being weak. And Ruby followed my footsteps shortly after.

Jaune had given up trying to find the right words to say, so he settled on something that always worked with his sisters when they were upset.

He carefully gave Yang a gentle hug of reassurance. She flinched for a moment before accepting the embrace. She wasn't crying, but she was clearly not in the best of moods. It was scary for Jaune, seeing the normally cheerful and energetic girl like this: broken, helpless, and alone. It hit just a little too close to home.

And now Jaune could explain the pained looks that he caught last night. The dancing, it had to have been a trigger for past remembrance. If that was the case, then he felt even worse. It was never his intention to do this to Yang.

He remained quiet as she let out what she was feeling. Why Yang chose now of all times to be like this, he had no idea. Perhaps she had done so because he had done so. Jaune didn't want Yang to think she owed him anything. He wasn't about collecting debts and favors. He just wanted a connection with her, something with substance and meaning.

What he called her, he didn't know now. She stated they were friends, but he wasn't sure if that was the right term to use for them given what had occurred between the two of them in the past sixteen hours.

Yang wanted to get to know him because she didn't really know him that well, and neither did Jaune know her all that well, with exception to what she had just told him. Beyond that, there was little that connected them other than their simple and thin beginnings. Yang liked him for teasing purposes, and Jaune simply accepted this as normal because it was better than having no friends. So there was no incentive to figure each other out any further.

Now they were both doing things that was so unlike what their friends and teammates knew about them. It could be that his questions and confusion stemmed from this uncharacteristic behavior from both of them. Maybe what they had wasn't meant to make sense in light of all that had happened up to this point.

Maybe it was better to stop trying to decide what they were and just try to develop a relationship.

Maybe it was time to take a step back and take this wonderful, yet bizarre relationship, in small steps.

His mind more resolved, Jaune took notice of Yang's stillness, and that made him decide that now was as good a time as any to speak.

"I'm so sorry Yang." He made sure to not stutter. "It was never my intention to bring up bad memories."

Separating from her, he put his hands to her shoulders.

"But look on the bright side." It was time to put that smile back on her face. "You're better. That has to count for something. You and Ruby both."

Yang was there for him when he needed a friend the most, and as a friend, it was his duty to be there for her when she needed a friend the most.

What he didn't expect was for her to suddenly breach the gap between them once again, but this time, her hands cupping his face and her forehead now touching his own. His breathing stopped, his hands still on her shoulders, but remaining frozen otherwise.

Was she smiling

He gulped. "I-"

"Don't." Yang cut him off. "Just shut up."

He did as she said and clamped his mouth shut, and for once letting the moment come and do what it pleased, not something that he did often.

He focused on the feeling of her hands against his face. He focused on the feeling of her face right next to his own. He focused on her breath, slow and steady. He focused on her pulse, or what he could make of it, a normal pace. He focused on her presence in every way that he could.

All the things around them and the people around them no longer had any relevance as his sole focus remained on the girl named Yang Xiao Long.

Yang could sense that Jaune had stopped trying to think so hard about this and went with the flow so to speak. For once, she was glad he didn't try to stagger his way out of this with words. He ruined moments by doing that. His presence was what held more value to her.

She too isolated everything and everyone that wasn't the boy called Jaune Arc. He was all that mattered right here and right now.

Peace.

Quiet.

Tranquility.

Him.

Peace.

Quiet.

Tranquility.

Her.

 _Thank you, Jaune,_ she spoke mentally.

 _Anytime, Yang,_ she heard him.

She could've sworn that she heard him speaking words, but it wasn't normal-sounding, his voice. It sounded like he was speaking in a dream. They weren't in a place where their voices echoed.

She cleared her mind of this arbitrary thought. Just enjoy the moment, she told herself.

Friends looking out for each other. Close friends looking out for each other.

Nothing more.

Nothing more...

* * *

 **And I thought the first chapter was fast-moving. I am really moving really fast, more so than what I initially thought. Actually, this wasn't meant to be a story in the first place, but due to the fast popularity it got in the short time it's been up, I'm feeling up for making it into a complete story.**

 **So now I get onto some of my thoughts concerning this story before I forget them.**

 **First, I think this pairing is called Firewall. Correct me if I'm wrong or if there's another name that's just as appropriate. Does anyone know how the name came up? What does it mean?**

 **Second, I'm trying to stay in-character as much as possible. However, like any good story, there has to be a considerable deal of character evolution. I have to strike a balance between these two things, and that's going to be a lot of work on my part.**

 **Third, I've got to do a delicate balancing between romance and friendship. This is going to keep pushing my ability of understanding both Jaune and Yang. This story isn't really about fighting battles, but more about relationships. So fights will be relatively sparse as I focus on all of the characters involved.**

 **O** **n an unrelated side note, I started thinking up names for Weiss/Ren. What should I call the ship? Weiss is associated with snow and ice. Ren is called a ninja by Nora. How about "Sub-Zero?" You know, that same guy in Mortal Kombat that's a ninja with ice powers? Now to come up with a story idea for my self-proclaimed ship name. I've got no time.**

 **Dammit. I wish time would slow.**

 **I digress. That last note isn't related to the story, though I do feel that I need to get a Ren pairing out there. He was once voiced by Monty Oum, and even though I never got to see much of him, he's one awesome guy. He created RWBY. May his soul rest in peace.**

 **With all of that out of the way, I thank all of you for getting this story off the ground. If you guys want more chapters, let me know with reviews. If I'm getting things right, let me know. If I've seriously goofed it up, tell me what I could do better. Feedback, criticism, and ideas are always appreciated.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this follow-up chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."**_

 **Abraham Lincoln**

 **Peace out!**


	3. Ch 3: Team Bonding is Overrated

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 3: Team Bonding is Overrated

 **Beacon Academy…**

The moment that Jaune got off of the airship, he began to feel his stomach churning rather uncomfortably. He knew what was coming next. He rushed to the conveniently-placed trash bin and heaved everything he ate and drank. Why did this always have to happen to him?

Another lurch began to form, and he braced himself.

Then Yang's hand fell on his back, and began to move in soothing circles. The effect didn't completely remove the urge to vomit, but it did at least stop anything else from coming up.

"I got you." Yang continued to rub.

"Thanks," he gasped.

Once he was absolutely sure that there was nothing else that his stomach would reject, Jaune stood up again. Without hesitation, he quickly reached into his pocket and produced a breath mint. People didn't like bad breath, even if it wasn't his fault.

"Can I have one," Yang asked.

"Sure," he agreed. "How many?"

She held up two fingers. He tossed her that amount.

Both of them began to chew, allowing the refreshing taste to fill their senses, eliminating all undesirable smells. Each hint of taste was savored before the mints disappeared completely.

"Now to find our teammates," Jaune said.

"Or let them find us," Yang pointed.

Both of their teams were quickly coming upon them. They would only have a few more seconds before they were bombarded with questions, concerns, disapproval, lectures, and whatever else their friends saw fit to start.

"So how do you want to play this," Jaune whispered.

"Follow my lead," Yang whispered back. "I'm an expert at this sort of thing."

Jaune didn't doubt that Yang could talk her way out, but what he did doubt was how she would do it. He was too late to voice any further questions as Ruby rushed up to hug Yang and Nora lifted Jaune up into her own embrace.

"Nora," he wheezed. "Let. Go."

"Nuh-uh, Jaune-Jaune," Nora squeezed tighter. "I can't let you out of our sight again!"

"Please," he pleaded desperately.

"Nope!"

"Ren, help!"

"I told you to get back on time," Ren smirked. "Now you've only got yourself to blame for Nora's protectiveness."

While Jaune was left to deal with the uncontrollable strength that belonged to the bubbly bomber and the unhelpful teammate that was a ninja, Yang was dealing with the frown on her younger sister's face.

"Yang Xiao Long," Ruby crossed her arms. "I am disappointed in you, keeping Jaune from being responsible."

"Hey," Yang cried. "I'll have you know, Ruby Rose, that he was equally responsible for our tardiness."

"Yang," Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "Don't pretend that Jaune is irresponsible."

"There's a first for everything, P-money," the blonde brawler retorted, "But the more important thing is that we bonded and now we're better friends."

"Do not attempt to deviate from the subject, Xiao Long," Weiss butted in. "We are going to have a long discussion about this."

Yang's happy-go-lucky grin quickly turned into a frown, obviously displeased with whatever lecture Weiss could give her. The Ice Queen didn't know when to quit.

"Come on, Blake." Yang turned to her partner. "Back me up."

"You did have us worried," the black-haired Faunus shrugged. "I think this is warranted to some degree."

"Traitors," Yang exclaimed. "All of you wound me deeply."

"Tell it to my weapon," Ruby dismissed. "Don't ever scare me like that again. I didn't sleep a wink last night."

"None of us did," Pyrrha said as she pried Nora's arms open for Jaune to gasp out for air.

"Yang is right," Jaune said next. "I did kind of lose track of time. But doing something really fun does make you forget about time."

"So what did you guys do?" Ruby asked.

"I showed Jaune the more excitable parts of town." Yang put an arm around Jaune's shoulder. "I got him a drink and we danced up a storm. You guys seriously need to see him dance. He's got moves."

"You can dance, Jaune?" The redheaded spartan looked genuinely surprised.

"You know me," Jaune smiled timidly, scratched the back of his head, something he often did. "I'm just full of surprises."

"And while we're on the subject of surprises," Ruby stepped forward. "Why didn't you tell us you had an apartment?!"

"It's my family's apartment. My mom and dad said if I ever needed to, I could crash there. I just didn't ever need to use it until yesterday."

"We could've used it for a party!" Nora looked angry. "You know that we can't have parties here!"

"Okay," Jaune raised his hands in surrender. "If you guys really want to, I can set up a party. I just need to know when."

"In any case," Ren broke in. "We're all glad you made it back home safe and sound."

"Agreed," Blake said. "And now that you're back Yang, we can get to work on our assignments."

"Yeah, sure," Yang chirped in response. "Look out, homework, cause you're goin' down hard!"

"You're still not getting away from me." Weiss placed her hands on her hips.

"Well," a displeased scowl was painted on her face, "It was worth a try."

Before she released her hold on Jaune, she quickly ruffled his hair up. He tried to stop her, with no success.

"Good outing, vomit boy."

Once she saw his silent expression of thanks, Yang grabbed her partner's hand and dragged the Faunus away, leaving Weiss and Ruby to follow behind.

"So I take it all went well then?" Pyrrha asked.

Seeing his partner, Jaune realized that there was something he needed to do before he forgot to do it, something he should've done before he left.

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry about yesterday."

"What about yesterday?" She moved closer.

"I pushed you away when I shouldn't have. I was being selfish, and it was wrong for me to do that. You were only trying to help me."

"Jaune." She placed a hand to his shoulder. "I don't hold anything against you. You are my friend."

"Just the same, I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

"I already have."

"Please, say the words. For my sake."

"I forgive you, Jaune."

The blond knight's spirits lifted up and he nodded his head. With that, a weight lifted off of his shoulders. He felt much better now that he knew there was no bad blood.

"So did you guys want to do anything else?" Jaune turned to his team.

"Nora wants to get some time in the training room," Ren elaborated.

"Great," Jaune smiled. "I'll be in the library. I need to finish up assignments that I wasn't able to do yesterday."

"Not so fast, Jaune-Jaune!" Nora spun him around before he could make an exit.

"Nora?" The blond knight was just a little bit uneasy.

"You made us worry," Nora pointed out. "Now it's time to pay up in the training room!"

Realizing what that meant for him, the team leader quickly decided to pull out his authority card. Nora's training was usually brutal to say the least. Sometimes, it was even worse than Pyrrha's training.

"And as your team leader, I'm overriding this," Jaune countered immediately.

"Sorry, Jaune," Pyrrha stepped up to him. "But you're not getting off that easy. We're doing an extra hour of training tonight."

"Pyrrha, what?" Jaune was surprised by this. "This isn't fair!"

"Neither was making us worry about you and Yang," Ren brought up.

If there was one thing that Jaune hated more than anything else, it was making his teammates worry so much. He would find a way to make it through training. Like Yang had said before, he was better than when he came to Beacon. But then again, what did it really show about his team if they were that worried about him, even though he was with a fully capable Yang? Did they really think him to be so incapable?

Apparently so.

"Alright." He looked to the red-head and then the ginger-head. "Let's get this over first."

"Nora!"

Jaune was yanked by Nora as she dashed to the training room. There wasn't a great deal of people there at this time, so the pink-clad girl would get to reap all of the destruction that she pleased.

Ren and Pyrrha simply gave each other an amused glance before giving chase to their respective partners.

If their blond knight didn't have such a high aura level, they might worry more about what Nora was going to do.

Jaune would be fine.

Maybe.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang didn't even bother fake listening as Weiss continued to lecture her about everything she had done wrong. This wasn't the first time that their white-clad heiress had done this before. For that matter, it wasn't the first time she had been lectured. It was like listening to her dad sometimes, though at least Taiyang had experience to back up his lectures. Weiss was the type of hypocrite who'd lecture her about something, and then end up doing exactly that.

Her dad was always worrying about his two daughters, and with good reason. He had lost two loved ones, and they were all that was left of them. So whenever Yang would do careless and reckless things, he gave her long lectures about responsibility and safety and all of that stuff. Of course, there were still the incidents that he wasn't aware of. Had Taiyang known that she had gone to a bar numerous times, he might, no he wouldget really disappointed.

Weiss was no different than that, except with less experience. So Yang naturally knew how to deal with the situation: just come out with how she felt about the conversation.

"You do realizing I'm not listening, right?" Yang didn't bother holding back.

"Then maybe I should start repeating it every day," Weiss threatened. "That way you'll be forced to listen and commit it to memory."

"There's this great thing for tuning out annoying speeches," the blonde grinned. "They're called earbuds."

"Headphone are better," Ruby argued.

"You mean those clunky things?" Yang gestured to the pair on a nearby desk. "That's extra weight you don't need."

"Better sound, big sister," Ruby said proudly. "You get a much better sound."

"That's debatable," the blonde shot back.

"Is not," Ruby retaliated.

"Is too!"

"Guys," Blake interjected. "You're missing the point."

"No, I get the point just fine." Lilac eyes rolled in irritation. "Why are you all so worried about me? You girls do know that I can fight, right?"

"And don't you see the problem, Yang?" Blake crossed her arms.

Yang shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Your tendency to fight can override your judgement," Weiss answered **,** the obvious insult laced deep in her words.

Somewhere in her mind, she felt herself snap. Nobody called her stupid, not even her teammate.

"Just because I like to fight doesn't mean I can't control myself!"

The blonde brawler was getting annoyed as depicted by a slight eye twitch. The three remaining teammates exchanged looks with one another. Yang was always the hothead of Team RWBY, but she'd never been this annoyed by a simple talk. Her usual way of getting through this sort of drawn-out talk was to just say yes and get on with life. She was defensive when she needed to be or wanted to be, never aggressive, not like this.

But **...** didn't they agree she was hotheaded? So by that logic, this was not really abnormal in the slightest.

"We never said you couldn't control yourself," Ruby defended. "We were worried that you were going to get yourself into trouble."

"Which is why I had Jaune," Yang said.

"Jaune won't always be there, Yang," her partner shook her head. "He can't be there for you all the time. He's a team leader. He has duties."

"Alright! Fine! I get it! I need to be more careful!" Yang cried out.

What would it take to get them to just shut up about this? There were better things to do than listen to this.

"And we're not placing blame on you entirely. Jaune was equally responsible."

Yang's head snapped up at this comment. Somehow, it seemed wrong to be placing Jaune in any bad light. He got enough "special" treatment from classmates and the teachers. The last thing he needed was the rest of RWBY hounding him about something that wasn't really his fault. She was willing to bet that his team was giving him quite the earful.

"I took Jaune out to get his mind off bad stuff. So what if we were late? Is being punctual more important, or is getting rid of pain more important?"

That certainly triggered reactions in all three huntresses-in-training. Ruby suddenly looked a bit ashamed. Blake looked like she was contemplating her words. Weiss looked surprised. In all of their panic to see that their teammates safe, they had completely forgotten the reason that the two blonds had been out that evening. Yang mysteriously wanted to be friends with Jaune. Ruby had already determined the reason. Blake had deducted the reason. Weiss could make a few educated guesses.

"Okay maybe we're a bit insensitive," Ruby began.

Yang snorted. "Ya think?"

"Don't get sassy with us," Weiss snapped.

"I'll get sassy whenever I want, princess," the brawler shouted. **"** You have no right to lecture _me_ when you threw a little temper tantrum when Professor Ozpin didn't make you team leader!"

Weiss had a look of indignation.

"Guys," Blake tried.

"What is going on with you Yang," Ruby asked. "The way you're acting makes me think Jaune did something."

"He didn't do anything wrong. He did everything right!"

"Everything?" Weiss raised an eye.

"Guys," Blake attempted again.

"A heart-to-heart, princess. That's all you need to know."

"If it affects you, then it is our concern." The heiress pressed.

"GUYS!"

Everyone was unprepared for the normally tranquil Blake to blow a gasket. The raven-haired girl's amber eyes glared to each of their faces. They all shrinked back at this.

Blake had been on board with this discussion, but something about how her partner was behaving was leading her to believe that there was more than Yang was telling. Being quiet and reserved, she knew how to keep silent about secrets. Yang wasn't like that at all; she was more open about things. That wasn't to say she couldn't keep a secret, but Blake was better at doing it.

Whatever Yang wanted to conceal was important, so it was best to respect that and only inquire in a really dire situation. Hopefully, the brawler would spill before it came to that.

For now, they should drop the conversation.

"We're getting nowhere with this conversation," the Faunus exasperated. "How about we just relax and go about our day. We don't have any real pressing things to do. We shouldn't be spending our Saturday grilling Yang for details."

The shared stillness between them all lingered for a second. Then another second passed. Nobody even so much as made their breathing audible.

They were all still part of a new team, despite having to trust one another with their lives on more than one occasion. They were friends, sisters in arms. They knew each other's battle tactics, strengths, weaknesses, the works. Yet as people, they still had much to learn about each other. But that wouldn't stop them from working to strengthen the already durable bond between the four girls.

Was that not what Yang was trying to do for Jaune? The same thing they all were doing now?

"If Yang wants to tell us, she will," the Faunus assured. "Right now, let's not be enemies."

"Yeah," Ruby drawled. "I guess so."

"...I'm willing to let this go for now," Weiss confessed. "But I'm still going to have a word with Arc."

"You stay away from Jaune," Yang glowered, "Your words to him aren't helping him feel better about himself."

"That was before I knew him," Weiss defended herself. "I was not going to-"

"You know what? I'm done talking about this. I'm outta here. Don't bother looking for me."

With that, she stormed to the door, slamming the door shut behind her. She stepped out into the hallway, not moving for a moment. Then her eyes fell to Team JNPR's dorm room. She didn't hear anyone in there. They must be all together doing something.

 _Now what? I've just ditched the team. And Jaune's busy._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune really wished he had Crocea Mors to defend himself, but sadly his trusty broadsword and shield were not within his grasp. None of them had their weapons actually, but just the same, he was already down for the count. Only his high aura was able to keep him functioning, and even that was reaching into the red zone now.

And Nora stood above him, looking utterly satisfied with his defeat. She was the shortest on the team, and yet she was the powerhouse. Jaune had never underestimated her for a second, and that had paid off when she revealed her semblance to the team.

Jaune didn't want to endure another moment.

"Now have I paid up?" He didn't beg, sounding more frustrated.

"Good enough, Jaune-Jaune! But next time, It'll be worse next time!"

"Nora," Ren called out. "You made your point. He won't do it again."

"Thanks, Ren," Jaune struggled to get up.

Pyrrha was there to help him almost in an instant. The knight accepted her help without any thought. She checked him for any obvious wounds while he checked himself for any hidden pains or sores.

Jaune had felt that the fight lasted a lot longer than he normally could go. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but today, he felt surprisingly energetic. Arguably, last night was probably the best sleep he'd had in a long time.

"You are getting better," Pyrrha complimented. "Keep at the training."

"Thanks, Pyr. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

"You'd find a way," Ren reasoned. "You always have."

"You're our fearless leader after all," Nora grinned.

Jaune smiled at his team's words. Time with the team was both what he wanted and what he didn't want.

Their company was welcome in order for him to get his mind off what had been happening recently. Still he couldn't really believe what had happened. Of course he tried to convince himself that it was maybe something in the drink that made him see things. But that couldn't possibly explain the shower in the morning

Being with his teammates, Jaune was unable to really think about the experience. He wanted to more than anything, but he knew that his teammates would catch onto something if he looked too distant. An interrogation wasn't what he wanted right now. How would he even begin to explain it?

Surprisingly enough, he had gotten away with just a reminder from his teammates to be more careful when going out and not calling them to inform of a delay. Not that he wasn't grateful for this, but it still wasn't what he anticipated.

"You seem really cheerful this morning Jaune," Pyrrha pointed out.

"I guess it's just one of those days," he shrugged. "I can't really explain any changes that may or may not have happened. Do I look different or something?"

"You look like you're ready to take on the world," Ren observed. "I can't explain it. I just get that feeling."

"I'm not that good yet," Jaune laughed. "But thanks for the vote of confidence."

"So what did you and Yang do yesterday?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune detected something in Pyrrha's voice, something that was unusual for the red-headed spartan warrior. He looked at her as she maintained a curious expression, but like her voice, there was some microscopic change in her expression. He noticed this, though didn't comment on it. It was probably nothing to worry about if it took him this much to read into these changes. The only reason he could even see this was because of the strong friendship he shared with Pyrrha. If it were more obvious, he might be more concerned.

"Just like Yang said," he explained. "She took me to a club, not exactly the place I imagined, but nothing unpleasant happened. It was actually fun."

"I hope you didn't consume any alcohol." Ren folded his arms.

"Nothing like that," Jaune responded. "A Strawberry Sunrise."

"Her favorite drink," Nora joined in.

"Right. Anyway, we talked, then we joined the dancing. Seeing a dancefloor got me in the mood."

"What kind of dancing," Pyrrha leaned forward.

It was suddenly getting a bit strange to be describing what he did in this much detail. Pyrrha seemed to be especially interested. Jaune wasn't sure, but he got the feeling there was something specific she was looking for. Nevertheless, he continued on, hoping that whatever he was sensing was just a mistake on his part.

"The good kind, Pyrrha. I think you guys are reading too much into this," Jaune deadpanned.

"Of course," the spartan reacted. "I was just… concerned."

"I get it," Jaune raised his hands, "It's Yang, and she's nothing if not a bit wild. Don't blame her for that."

Pyrrha looked ready to say something else, but Jaune decided that he had to say something to assure her that Yang was trustworthy.

"If I didn't trust Yang, I wouldn't have gone. Even if she hasn't exactly given off the impression of being a good friend, she offered to take me out last night. I gave her a chance, and I'm glad I did. We actually do have something to bond over."

Jaune, while saying this held his composure, not allowing himself to show emotion. Of course the two blonds had something to bond over. It almost freaked him out to think about it, and if anyone else found out, their life would undoubtedly get really complicated. So while being truthful to Pyrrha, he felt a twinge of guilt at omitting the part that was kept between him and the blonde brawler. And yet at the same time, it gave him a small rush of excitement. It felt wrong to even admit that to himself.

Now was not the time for that; there may not even be a right time for this sort of thing. It was just too drastic to just simply talk about it casually.

"Pyrrha. Look at me." Jaune held her attention. "I may not be the best fighter, but I can take care of myself. I don't need and I don't want to be coddled. That's why I came to Beacon. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's not necessary."

Since arriving at Beacon, Pyrrha was always there for Jaune when he needed her. It was now time to take off the training wheels and start working for a living.

Her head hung down. "I… I know."

She reached out to embrace him, and he returned the gesture in kind. What he failed to notice was that both Ren and Nora shared a knowing look with each other.

"Aww," Nora cooed. "I'm wanna join in!"

The pink bomber joined in on the hug without warning. Jaune simply moved his arms to give her room to enter. He then looked to Ren, who stood a distance away. It didn't take the ninja long to realize what his leader wanted, and he stepped forward to join the now-group hug.

Had they ever done a group hug? None of them could really say that the team had done something like this, but it was an incredibly pleasant hug. Jaune felt like he could feel the aura of all of his teammates even if only physically touching. They were all so comforting, so inviting, so homey.

If Jaune's teammates were anything but his family in all but blood, he might not feel the way he did now. Only those he called family gave him this sort of feeling.

Did Yang give him this feeling? A different feeling?

He shook himself from that line of thinking. Focus on Team JNPR and nothing else. Just focus on them. They were worried about him, and he needed to tell them that they need not worry about him so much.

Strangely enough, as much as he wanted the moment to continue, another growing desire filled his mind.

They all separated, looking happier than a few moments ago.

"So now you've paid your dues," Nora beamed, "Lead on fearless leader!"

"Actually, I have a few things to take care of. I need to get a few books from the library to finish up some homework."

"History," Pyrrha asked.

"Among other things," Jaune laughed. " I swear, Profes… Dr. Oobleck is doing this intentionally to me."

"You still do additional readings?" Ren raised an eyebrow.

"I struggled in all my classes last semester," Jaune said. "It took nothing short of team effort to get my grades where they are now."

"And we were glad to help," the spartan smiled. "We'll be in our room if you need anything."

"Thanks, guys," he nodded. "I'll catch up later."

Jaune hit the shower again having worked up a sweat trying to take down Nora. As he felt the hot water against him, he was struck once again by memories. That made him rush his shower as he tried to rid himself of any lingering thoughts.

Quickly drying and changing, he set himself on a course to the library.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang had no destination in mind; she just wanted to somehow get her mind off of her teammates. For some reason, they just weren't what she needed right now.

So what did she need right now?

Looking down at herself, she was only vaguely aware that she was wearing slightly different attire than she normally did. A black Vale t-shirt rather than her brown coat, and yellow shorts rather than black shorts. She almost forgot that they weren't hers. They belonged to the sisters of a certain friend.

What was Jaune's family like? He said they were a good family with some problems to work out. Yang had always imagined that Jaune was a real family guy. He cared immensely for people he trusted, so surely he loved his family even more.

Could he possibly ever treat her in that sort of way? Would she ever get a chance to see his family? Would they like her? Would Jaune even want to bring up the idea of her seeing his family?

Then she remembered that he wasn't on the best of terms with his parents. How had his sisters taken the news of him going? He hadn't talked about them much, just saying that they were fun to be with.

Why was she interested in his family so much now?

Jaune had been going to the library but felt that a walk wouldn't hurt. He had all the time in the world, so he walked really casually.

His thoughts?

He felt himself focusing on his team. As the months past and he grew to learn about them, they were becoming a new family with a relationship forged from trusting each other in very perilous and dangerous situations. It was a short time to know them, but he felt like he could trust them as much as his sisters. For now.

He was never good with friends. He didn't even have friends back home. Sure, he might've had a few acquaintances here and there, but no one he called friend. These were the first real friends he could recall ever having.

Because he was new to this sort of thing, he wasn't sure how he was doing with it. To him, friends were family in his eyes, and he treated them as such. It seemed to be working out so far, but that was only what he perceived.

He needed advice from a socializer. Like Yang.

They were so engrossed in their thoughts that they both failed to register each other's presence and collided. Because they weren't in a particular rush, neither of them fell over, just faltered a bit.

"Sorry," both of them said in unison.

Then they saw each other.

"Um… hi," Jaune spoke first.

"Hey." Yang managed to smile.

"So where were you going?"

They both regarded each other. They had spoken in perfect unison again.

"Anywhere but Team RWBY's dorm."

"You get an earful?"

"You don't know the half of it." Yang ran a hand through her hair.

"I think I do." Jaune looked to the ground. "Nora doesn't speak though. She prefers to let her strength do the talking."

"I pity you, Jaune."

"You shouldn't. I wouldn't."

"If we're in combat class, I won't." She went into a mock-battle stance.

"Looking forward to it," Jaune snarked lightly.

"Don't get snippy with me," Yang stepped forward. "Let's not forget who's the kickass fighter here."

"It's definitely not you," he smirked. "We both know you suck at fighting."

"What was that, Arc?" She moved closer.

"You heard me." He didn't back down.

"You do realize," Yang put her hands on her hips, "I can march you back to the training room and make Nora's beatdown look like a massage."

"Interesting idea," Jaune considered. "But I've already had a massage today."

The implication was clear.

"You." Yang poked him on the nose. "You sly dog."

Her finger lingered for a moment, before Jaune playfully attempted to bite it. Yang pulled her finger back and gave Jaune a smile.

They stared down each other for a moment.

Then it was just too much to take. Both of them broke out in laughter, grabbing onto each other to support themselves. Other students that were close enough to hear them turned to look at the really strange sight of the beautiful blonde brawler clutching onto the dorky blond knight.

"Okay," she gulped some air. "So worth it."

"Totally," he heaved. "Even if I'm about to die."

"I'm not done with you yet, Jaune." She held him tighter. "You can't die until I say you can."

"Now how is that fair, Yang?"

"It isn't meant to be."

"That's not how friends work."

"Then clearly you have a lot to learn about being my friend."

"I think I know enough."

Yang gazed into his eyes, a playful expression played out for him clear to see. His body, not for the first time, began to slightly tense up. He prayed that whatever she was thinking wasn't what he was thinking. This was not an ideal place for any intimacy.

"Do I see fear in your eyes?" It was Yang's turn to smirk.

Yep. She was thinking what he thought she was thinking.

Red alert.

"Fear. Pssh. Yeah right," Jaune dismissed. "It takes more than that to rattle me. I'm not that same kid you met on an airship."

Yang didn't look convinced. Not one bit. He wasn't good at playing a game like this, but he had to try.

"Besides, I've got more important thing to do than spend time with you. I've got books to get from the library anyway."

"Nothing is better than spending time with me, especially not some boring books."

"They are so."

"They are not!"

"Convince me then," Jaune taunted.

"Oh I will."

Without even giving him a chance to speak or protest, she dragged him to the library. Jaune had no doubt walked himself into a really bad place. What Yang had in mind, he could only speculate and imagine. Whatever the case, the blond knight didn't try to resist, because it was his own fault for egging her on like he did. He just hoped that she didn't do anything too drastic.

And if Yang was intentionally trying to get him even more uneasy, it was working, because they passed by more than a few students. Jaune nervously smiled at random passersby as he continued to be dragged around.

"Yang," he hissed, "What's your game?"

"No game." Yang didn't look back.

"Yeah? Could've fooled me out there."

"You should've know what you got yourself into. I wouldn't be me otherwise if I don't get attention."

"Noted." He released himself from her grasp. "Now can you tell me what we're doing?"

There was that dangerous expression again. "Convincing you just how much better I am compared to your homework. Did you already forget?"

"Unlike you, I like to at least maintain good grades." He put a foot of distance between them.

"I do my homework just fine, thank you very much." She closed the distance he made.

"Really," Jaune asked. "Because Ruby says another story."

Jaune once again moved away from her.

"Okay," Yang shrugged. "So I might've copied my teammates' a few times. No big deal, right?"

Yang once again negated the distance between them.

"A few times?" Jaune backed away again.

Then he realized his mistake. A cold wall was against his back. Even worse, there was no one around them. They were in a more secluded section of the library.

"Yeah, a few times." That look in her eyes was so enticing.

She was now almost touching him. He didn't want to appear like he was giving up even though his options were getting even more limited by the moment. He simply gazed back at her, holding her eyes with his own.

"What do you really want, Yang?"

There were no words, but her hard-set look spoke volumes for what she wanted. Her expression didn't waver a bit. It was so tempting to just give into it right then and there. Jaune, in spite of crumbling control, tried again to defuse this situation.

"Yang, do you have any idea what would happen if-"

She immediately pressed herself against him. He hissed quietly, unable to find words to say against this not-unwelcome desire. Yang leaned up and planted a searing kiss on his lips, to which he responded in kind. She bit his lip, which elicited in a moan from him.

"You were saying something?" Yang said, her tone low and dangerous.

Jaune bit his lips. He might not be able to win the way he was going, so he was going to give Yang a taste of her own medicine. His arms reached behind her, and she stifled her own sound of pleasure as he grasped her tightly. The blond knight's mind flooded back to what Ren mentioned earlier, something along the lines of how he looked like he could take on the world. Now was probably a good time to cash in that statement.

"If we're going to play this game," he growled quietly, "Then I'm not going down easily."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," she whispered in his ear.

Keeping him pinned to the wall, Yang crushed her lips against his. Jaune was wrong to assume she was willing to take this much of a risk out here, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with him. Even more kinky was the fact that Jaune seemed to have grown a bit of a spine, throwing back her teasing with sarcasm.

Who knew vomit boy had a sarcastic streak?

Jaune still fought to release himself from the trap that he had gotten himself into, which made Yang force herself onto him more. Even if he hadn't admitted it verbally, she had gotten a pretty big reaction from him physically.

Her lips separated from his, but she remained very close to him.

"Still think books are interesting," Yang teased.

"It's about neck-to-neck," Jaune replied.

"Then clearly I'm not going a good enough job."

Jaune was finally able to shove back during Yang's momentary lapse in strength, pushing her against a bookshelf behind her.

"I told you," he said. "I'm not going down easily."

"You ain't seen anything yet," Yang jeered.

Their match of pushing and shoving each other was one that was also intertwined with aggressive hands fighting for purchase on each other's savory bodies. Both teens were barely were able to suppress their breathless mewls of gratification.

Ditching teammates?

Best idea ever.

* * *

 **A bit of a light-hearted chapter always does wonders to brighten the mood. I'm pretty sure when I started this chapter, it wasn't going to end like it did, but then it came out. But I've got no real complaints.**

 **I'm continuing my trend of keeping these steamy moments to a dumbed-down and suggestive mood. I'm honestly not sure whether I'm going to add anything more to it, but I'll see as I move along. Just remember, this is not a smut story.**

 **And finally, I don't know how it happened, but the almost-universal support from you guys has really given me a motivation to see this through. Never have I had a story with this much popularity this fast. Thanks to all of my readers for the support. I hope to continue to deliver quality chapters.**

 **That being said, if you loved this chapter, let me know in a review. If you hated it, explain why. And like always, idea, feedback, and randomness is appreciated. Who hasn't ever wrote a random review before?**

 **A special thanks to my beta-readers, Operator Blake and Trance Sephiroth for their support as well as Makentsu for the cover art. Now the story is better with all the bells and whistles so to speak, I think.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"It always seems impossible until it's done."**_

 **Nelson Mandela**

 **Peace out!**


	4. Ch 4: Good Idea, Wrong Result

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 4: Good Idea, Wrong Result

 **Beacon Academy…**

Why was this so familiar?

Jaune sat with the rest of Team JNPR as they all ate dinner together. Today, he sat between Pyrrha and Ren, while Nora sat on Ren's right telling everyone about the most recent dream that she'd had.

The leader was far from a good listener right now. It wasn't fully his fault though. There were a lot of things on his mind right now. For one, that unexpected occurrence in the library had left him with only Yang in mind.

He was surprised that she even wanted to come back, given that earlier she was avoiding her team like the plague. Now, it looked like things had gone back to normal for her.

And he'd forgotten to get the books that he needed to finish his homework.

Not good.

"And there we were," Nora said. "The Nevermores soaring above, watching us like helpless prey."

"There was only one Nevermore," Ren clarified.

Nora ignored Ren's correction and seamlessly continued with her story.

"And there was a full crowd in front of us." Nora beamed. "We couldn't fail!"

"There was no one." Ren looked annoyed.

"Then feathers came hurtling towards us!" Nora jumped up. "Hundreds of them!"

"Ten of 'em," Ren contended, exasperated.

"But like the amazing duo we are," Nora spoke confidently, "We took them down in record time and we got rich from the royalties of the vids taken of us."

The green ninja shook his head. "Apparently, there were cameras she'd hidden for that fight."

Normally, Yang would be paying attention to the hammer-wielder with great interest as Nora usually told some pretty awesome stories.

Tonight however, the blonde brawler just ate her food mechanically, all the while staring at Jaune, who gazed at his tray as if it was as interesting as Professor Port's lectures. It wasn't an expression that befit the blond knight.

He was probably on-edge because of their changed relationship. From distant friends to friends with benefits was quite the drastic change. Even throughout their discussion earlier that morning he was shaky.

And the fact that they had that little make-out session in the library

Digressions aside, Jaune was able to mask his uncertainty with the expression that Yang had dubbed his "sad face."

She didn't like that face although she knew the reason for it. So she did what any friend would do.

"Hey Jaune," Yang asked. "You okay?"

Pyrrha had also noticed Jaune's rather bland mood, and that worried her in many ways. He was generally always in a chipper mood, and very few things could deter him from that attitude. She would likely have asked the same question that Yang had.

Why was Yang now playing the concerned friend? That was her job.

Jaune recovered from his momentary silence. There was no way he was going to be able to keep his teammates or Team RWBY from figuring out there was something on his mind. He was never good at concealing his emotions anyway.

But that didn't stop him from trying to play it off.

"Huh? Oh yeah," he answered. "I'm fine. I'm just not as hungry as I thought."

"You do know you can talk to us right?" Pyrrha put her hand on his shoulder. "We're your teammates. Don't shut us out again."

Jaune looked to his partner, a small smile playing out on his face.

Yang watched the two of them. Her grip on her fork tightened just a little bit. Her eyes narrowed slightly, watching their contact very closely. She was still, her posture just a bit more rigid.

"It's not life-changing," Jaune tried to reason. "Really, it's nothing for you guys to worry about."

"Jaune," Pyrrha tried again. "You said that once before. You know what happened."

He appeared thoughtfully. "That was different, before I was even good at fighting. I'm better now."

"There are situations you won't always be prepared for, Jaune."

Now Yang felt just a little bit more annoyed. Jaune clearly didn't want to talk about it, and Pyrrha seemed really persistent about finding out. Maybe it was her right to know his problems as his partner. He hadn't always been the most stable when pressed into a corner. In actuality, it wasn't Yang's duty to watch after Jaune as she wasn't his partner. Pyrrha would take care of him.

That duty, although not mandatory for the spartan, fell to her.

But Yang still didn't like it one bit.

"Yang," Ruby poked her sister.

Yang snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her little sister trying to get her attention. Had she been obvious about watching Jaune and Pyrrha?

Monty Oum, she hoped not.

"Yeah, Ruby?" Yang asked casually.

"I just asked you if you've done your homework." Ruby repeated.

Yang rolled her eyes. "You sound like dad. Trust me Rubes, I'll get it done. Don't you worry about me."

Ruby glared slightly. "You haven't even started have you?"

Yang threw her arms in the air. "Didn't you hear me? I'll get it done."

"Let her be Ruby," Blake interrupted. "She'll get her work done, even if it's not the best work."

"Thank you, Blake." Yang cheered in relief. "What about you princess?"

"Heiress," Weiss corrected. "And while I don't agree with this at all, I suppose it's all I can ask for given our team dynamic."

"Good answer," Yang grinned. "You're learning, ice queen."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

The blonde brawler only grinned more at this; if there was one thing that she could count on to never change, it was Weiss's prim and proper attitude.

Her eyes then shifted to Jaune again, who was talking to Ren and Nora while Pyrrha stared at him like a dog who wanted attention. she knew that look, as did all of Team RWBY. Almost every day the spartan gave her partner that same look.

It surprised her that Pyrrha was taking this long to make a move of Jaune. It was clear that he was never going to make a move because he never could stop to see what was plainly obvious to him.

Yang did once believe that the two of them together would be something for her to make fun of. They were just so quirky in many ways, the both of them. It was a match made in heaven so she thought.

Then again, wasn't it just like Pyrrha to just let the chips fall where they may? Pyrrha was many things: intelligent, genuine, confident, selfless, and competitive. The invincible girl truly did earn her reputation as she hadn't yet lost a single match in combat class. Yang had come close to beating her once, but that didn't change the fact her reputation was flawless thus far. But one thing she would never be was aggressive.

That was probably costing her now because so long as she continued to wait for Jaune to do something to further their relationship, they would never be.

Now, the thought of them romantically involved didn't stir that same sort of reaction as in the past. There was no laughing at Pyrrha's attempts to try and comfort Jaune now. There were no evil grins implicitly encouraging the two of them to hit it off. There were no sounds of mock-cooing when they were really close together.

And somehow watching Pyrrha with that look of yearning and Jaune still not getting the still-evident cues made Yang just a little bit less tense.

 _Just keep hoping Pyrrha. You don't know him like I do._

Did she just think that?

"Yang," Jaune called.

She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts. realizing that the leader of Team JNPR was trying to get her attention. And from sound of his voice, he had tried numerous times already.

"Uh, yeah?" Her recovery time was quick enough, thankfully.

Almost. Jaune's eyes flashed a momentary look of concern. Then it was gone as soon as it came.

Time to pay attention.

"I was just asking if you wanted to join us for movie night." Jaune folded his hands together. "You in?"

Movie night?

It seemed like forever since Team RWBY had been to see a movie. Ever since the semester had begun, it had been busy. Between a few field trips and homework and other miscellaneous in-between things, there was less and less time for simply goofing off. Team RWBY did have this aptitude for going off on some wild chases and fights. It had earned them a pretty little reputation at Beacon Academy, maybe even in the city as well.

Team JNPR wasn't involved in the sort of adventures that Team RWBY got themselves into, probably because Jaune kept his teammates placid, as tough as that might be. In a way, it was just like him, the most average of them all. At the same time, it was something to be envious about to some degree. They basically had free reign when it came to what they did, and more freedom was always nice.

"What are we seeing," Yang asked. "Action? Comedy? Romance? Sci-fi? All of the above? Something else?"

All friends turned their heads to each other. Yang did as well, not sure what they were doing. It was annoying with no words.

"Come on," Yang exclaimed. "Throw me a bone here, Jaune. What is it?"

"You weren't listening," the knight said.

"I was so listening," Yang cried out indignantly.

"Then you should be able to tell me what I said about a minute ago." Jaune gestured for her to remember what he said.

Yang opened her mouth to speak, then realized what she had just walked herself into. Normally, she wouldn't be so easily baited into such an obvious trap. She should have turned his own question against him. She should have countered with his inattention to his partner and to the entire table while he stared into his food not minutes ago. That would've been the Yang thing to do: turning a question against someone by answering a question without really answering the question.

Not this time though. Yang could see that everyone was watching her to see what she would say. It was unnerving with so many pairs of eyes trained on her. Even Blake was watching from the corner of her eyes, her book momentarily forgotten.

Jaune just waited for her, but Yang could detect the slightest bit of mischief on his lips. When had she begun to notice such small things about him?

And when did a look of mischief ever look so good on him?

Wait, she wasn't supposed to be complimenting him. She was supposed to be mad at him for doing this.

Damn him for screwing with her.

Wait, he'd already done that twice now.

Damn him. Again.

"Well," Jaune asserted. "I guess-"

"Hold your horses," Yang narrowed her eyes. "I know the answer."

"Sure you do." Jaune looked dubious. "I'll just pretend you asked and say it's-"

"Don't tell her," Ruby grinned. "Leave her guessing!"

"Ruby!" The blonde brawler looked surprised. "How could you!? I thought you loved me!"

Everyone was now laughing to various degrees, with Ren naturally reacting with a light chuckle and Ruby letting out a full-blown laugh.

Only Yang didn't join in, instead opting for a pout-glare hybrid, mostly directed at Jaune. If Jaune hadn't started it, Ruby wouldn't have supported him.

"Did I ever tell you that you've got a cute pout?" Jaune took in a breath.

Cute?

Yang Xiao Long was most certainly not cute. Nobody ever called her cute.

Not even him.

"You wanna run that by me again?" Yang threatened.

This time Jaune seemed to recede back into his timid self as he took note of her change in demeanor, though it was much less so than usual. Apparently their short time together had taught him to be more ballsy.

Good. That more ballsy he was, the more reason she had to beat him up.

"Nothing," he said. "Just noticing how moody you seem."

Moody sounded about right, but not just for Yang. It was a more than appropriate term for Jaune as well.

"I could say the same for you." She leaned back.

"Well aren't you two just the best friends ever," Ruby commented. "One night and you're talking like best friends."

"What can I say?" Yang grinned. "I did what I set out to do pretty well."

The Y of Team RWBY responded as she normally would: upbeat and perky. That didn't detract from the fact that the relationship between her and Jaune had noticeably changed, and from how they acted together, this change was for the better.

Everyone was happy.

And that's all that mattered, right? That everyone else around her was happy.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Pyrrha and Jaune walked to the library to retrieve a movie for all of their friends to watch. He had been playing with Yang earlier. They didn't really know what they wanted to watch, and here they were. Regardless, the spartan did so appreciate whatever time she could get with the person of her affection, even if he was a bit dense when it came to the hints.

She had always admired him for being rather humble. He didn't think himself capable of amounting to much. Even after months of intense training and support from his teammates, he retained a diminished view of himself. That only made Pyrrha adore him so much more.

Pyrrha wouldn't deny that she harbored feelings for Jaune. Never before had she felt such things for anyone before him. It wouldn't matter if someone said that her feelings were that of a teenager going through a phase or that she didn't know the first thing about romance; what Pyrrha knew for certain was that she desired Jaune as more than a friend.

When she had first seen him, her instincts told her that he was someone she wanted to have close to her. It wouldn't be incorrect to say that once she had validated that he knew nothing about her fame, then it was her goal to make him her partner. He was most ill-suited when he first came to Beacon Academy, but it wasn't about his skills in battle, but who he was.

And help Jaune she did. Pyrrha felt a swell of pride knowing that she had trained a boy with almost no combat experience into a warrior. He had no misgivings about the fact it was going to take a lot of work, or that he still had work left, and given enough time, Jaune would excel just as much as their friends.

It was only when he'd first asked her for training did she begin to realize just how much she wanted Jaune in her life. Something about him asking her for help just made her smile like she had never smiled before. And their time together as friends and partners only served to fuel her desire for him.

So naturally Pyrrha was disheartened when, for a time, Jaune had ignored her and looked to Weiss. Pyrrha didn't say anything about it, and even encouraged Jaune as best she could in order to be a good friend. As much as she liked Jaune, she wasn't willing to jeopardize her first true friendship for the sake of doing something selfish.

That being said, she didn't care at all for the way Weiss rejected him. The Schnee heiress always responded to Jaune's attempts to woo her with disdain and spite. In one way, it was to be expected from the white-haired girl. Pyrrha still didn't like the way she did it though. It was hurtful to Jaune and his self-esteem.

A few times, the redhead had seriously considered giving Weiss a piece of her mind. How could Weiss be so superficial? To disregard a person based on what was purely on the outside? Even if she was the Schnee heiress, it didn't excuse her in the spartan's mind.

And the way Jaune pursued her? Pyrrha wished for that same attention from him.

A part of her hoped that he would eventually move on from Weiss at the very least and look to other places. Perhaps even he would notice her for once.

And as if her prayers were answered, he did move on surprisingly enough. Now he looked to Weiss as a friend, and the heiress in turn adopted a friendlier demeanor towards him.

Even though Jaune was no longer smitten with Weiss, and she could very easily ask him out, Pyrrha still wanted him to make the first move. He needed more confidence in himself, a lot more confidence in himself and the spartan had heard that asking out a potential boyfriend or girlfriend would serve to aid him that regard. Pyrrha would have no problem asking Jaune to be her boyfriend, but she felt that it would end up with him shying away from her.

No, she had decided that waiting for him to ask her out would be better. Doing so would ensure that he would have more confidence in himself. Pyrrha would say yes without question and she knew how much it would mean to him that she had decided he was a worthy boyfriend.

And the second reason? She wanted to hear him say the words. She wanted to know that she was still capable of getting a boyfriend. Her first moments at Beacon were focused on getting friends, and she had accomplished that task quite well. Her teammates were her second family, and Team RWBY were good friends. That was the first step to knowing that she was human, that she didn't have to be a goddess. Now she wanted more, to know she could have someone to love her for Pyrrha. Being a goddess wasn't nearly as glamorous as it was made out to be.

She was patient, and she could afford to wait for him. When he was ready, she would be there.

But now she had a new reason to worry. She didn't want to think of this new development as a reason to worry, but anything involving Jaune was always something she paid attention to.

His moodiness as of late saddened her; it was just like first semester when he was dealing with his feelings of inadequacy. This time, it may have been for a different reason, but it was negative emotions just the same. It had stung when he had brushed her off, but she couldn't hold it against him, and she was ever thankful for him apologizing for shutting her out.

That was only one part of her worries.

The other part?

The blonde brawler from Team RWBY.

Yang Xiao Long.

It was clear from the start of the school year that Yang was the clown of their group of friends, and Jaune was often the butt of her jokes and teasing. Jaune seemed to be submissive about how the blonde-haired girl chose to think of him, and Pyrrha may not had said anything about it, but the redhead was anything but happy with it. Only now was she finding the will to stand up for him, and she reprimanded herself for not doing so sooner.

But things had taken a really serious turn. From what she had seen from the two of them, they were chatting with each other like they knew each other inside and out. It was the first time Pyrrha had ever heard Jaune use sarcasm before in conversation. It was also the first time Yang looked stunned.

Pyrrha had heard from both of them that it was simply a dance night, but something led her to believe there was more to the story. It was as if the two of them had borrowed each other's identities.

Perhaps she was being really paranoid at the prospect of losing her first potential boyfriend; Pyrrha did have many things in life that she regretted. She most certainly did not want to add to that list that she had lost the chance with arguably one of the greatest people she had ever known.

Then she reminded herself of something: she trusted Jaune with her life, and as such, she should not question him or what he did. He was his own person, and if he and Yang wanted to be better friends, then she would give him her blessing.

Besides, Jaune wasn't Yang's type, and Pyrrha didn't want to sound mean, but did Yang really even have what it took to be a girlfriend to anyone?

"So what were you thinking of getting," Jaune asked. "We've got a whole lot to choose from here."

Pyrrha took up a tactful expression. Now could be a golden opportunity to not only spend time with all of her friends, but possibly give Jaune the right idea concerning their relationship. She needed to be discreet about it though. She was hopeful, not desperate.

"Well how about we browse for a bit," Pyrrha suggested.

So the two of them stuck to each other as they wandered down the aisles, passing by several genres. Pyrrha already knew what she was looking for, and they would be passing by what she sought shortly.

They passed by the sci-fi section, which Ruby loved, then there were historical films, which was Ren's piece of cake. The fantasy section was often visited by Weiss, action was Nora's favorite genre, Yang was into thrillers big time, Jaune had a thing for family-related films. Pyrrha herself was partial towards adventure and Blake ate up romances left and right.

The spartan was lacking when it came to romance. She knew what it was, but knowing and experiencing were different things. Of course one could argue that romance was viewed differently by all, and that no one should ever try to put a label and simplify it. She did have an idea of what a romantic relationship with Jaune would look like though. It would be built upon their friendship.

And speaking of romances…

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm in order to get his attention. He stopped walking to look at what Pyrrha was looking at.

"Romance," Jaune observed. "You really think anyone's going to go for it?"

"It was just a thought," Pyrrha coyly reacted. "But I suppose we could keep looking if you don't think it's a good idea."

"No," Jaune immediately said. "We can do it. We'll just have to look for another genre to go with it."

"Let's see what's there first," the spartan replied.

For the next few minutes, both of them inspected film upon film lined up neatly. It was a silent act, and Pyrrha was wondering if Jaune was even trying to find something, or just waiting for her to make a choice. If he was, she wouldn't mind, and it would be right to say that she liked that very much.

She could make this an even better night.

That made her work even harder to find the perfect movie.

A movie for everyone to watch, but still could help her in a way.

She ignored all the action and adventure ones, for they were simply too boisterous for what she had in mind. Thrillers and mysteries, not really the right mindset. Fantasy, it deviated too much from characters. Drama, that would be too intense.

She needed something lighthearted. Something that was emotional, but not so as to choke its audience on it.

 _Come on Pyrrha,_ she chanted. _You can do this. You've got this. You can do anything you put your mind to. Just calm down._

She took a silent breath in, then exhaled softly. She found her mind more orderly.

Comedy…

Could that work?

Perhaps it would work. If only she could find the right one.

Truly, she was winging it a bit here. As her reputation prevented her from doing many things considered normal, she was just taking a stab in the dark, hoping that she might find something.

Her green eyes then flickered to a title, and she automatically grabbed it from the shelf and stared at the cover. She had grabbed it because it had seemed familiar somehow.

That's when a bolt of realization struck her. She had seen this before, somewhere she didn't recall, and sometime she didn't remember, but she had seen it before.

"Jaune, how about this one?"

The blond knight took the chosen film from Pyrrha. She watched as he reacted to the cover, which carried a short-lived expression of scrutiny. He then read the back cover quickly. Still she waited for him, holding her breath.

"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "I think this could work. I'm sure at least Nora will laugh at it. Maybe Yang too."

A fleeting frown took form on her face, then her trademark smile appeared again.

"Then let's go," she said, pulling him forward.

Pyrrha prayed to whatever gods that existed out there that Jaune might get an idea or two from this film.

She prayed for all she was worth. Fame couldn't help her now.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Everyone had gathered in Team RWBY's room to watch the movie. They had managed to sneak in a couple of bean bags so that not everyone had to position themselves uncomfortably on the floor.

Because the upper bunk beds were too high up, they had to double up on the lower beds. Ruby lay on her stomach with Weiss sitting properly. Blake sat with her legs tucked to her chest and Yang mirrored her sister's pose.

Nora, predictably shared a bean bag with Ren, who sat criss-crossed. Nora simply took up the rest of the space, hugging him closely. Being this close to Nora was not new to him in the slightest. She was often found sleeping by Ren on his bed at least once a week.

Jaune and Pyrrha shared the remaining bean bag, but he took care to maintain a bit of distance from her. He didn't want her to think he was taking advantage of their shared space.

They were all decked out in their sleep wear. Ruby had called it a slumber party so to speak, even though Team JNPR's room was right across the hall and they would just go back to their room once the movie was done.

A few of them had snacks with them. Ruby had a stack of cookies just waiting to be wolfed down, with a few strawberries on the side. Nora had somehow gotten pancakes, and nobody dared to question how, just that the pink bomber found ways. Blake had no snack; instead she held a mug of cocoa in her hands. Weiss declined any snacks, insisting she did not need any. Jaune had opted for the traditional movie snack of popcorn to share with Pyrrha and Ren.

That is, if Yang would give back the bowl.

"Yang," Jaune said. "Can you give me the bowl?"

"I'm not done with it yet," Yang said with a full mouth. "And you owe me anyways."

"When have I ever owed you anything," Jaune demanded.

"You teased me," Yang glared at him. "Nobody but me teases."

"Sore loser," Jaune muttered.

"Yang, please give us the bowl," Pyrrha requested.

The spartan held a stern look. Coming from the girl that almost never frowned, it was scary, but not to the brawler.

Yang thought about it for a moment. And then she responded.

"Nope." Yang continued to eat.

"Come on Yang," Jaune begged.

 _I've got you right where I want you, vomit boy._

"What's the magic word," Yang teased.

"Seriously?" Jaune sighed. "I'm too old for this."

"Are you guys done?" Ruby held the remote. "We can't watch this with you arguing."

Before Yang could make a quip, she found the bowl of popcorn missing from her arms. She looked down in shock to see Jaune had somehow gotten it from her grasp, and he passed it to Ren, who took a handful, then to Pyrrha, who smiled and grabbed some as well.

"Hey," Yang yelled. "My popcorn."

"Not anymore," he said.

"Good," Ruby called out. "I'm starting."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **"Why aren't you taking notes?"**

 **"I'm sorry. Were you not in that room!?"**

 **"What?"**

 **…**

 **…**

 **"Oooh! Oh oh oh oh oh.! The thing you said about being promoted. Genius, genius. He completely fell for it."**

 **"I was being serious!"**

 _Well this is awkward,_ Jaune thought. _Poor guy's left with no choice._

It hadn't been that long, at least the blond knight didn't think so. This was most certainly a comedy thus far. There were enough jokes to laugh at.

The romance? None of that yet.

It was then that he noticed something very startling: Pyrrha was really close to him, as in she was going to be cuddling with him at any moment now.

Maybe he should be happy that Pyrrha Nikos was this close. A lot of guys gave him dirty looks enough as it was. They were jealous of his partner no doubt.

Was this closeness intentional or accidental? Did she like him?

He stopped himself from laughing out loud. Pyrrha Nikos like-liking him? Yeah right, as if that was ever going to happen.

Jaune glanced at her again. They were the best of friends. What's to stop them from being more, he wondered.

So Jaune, for a moment tried to picture Pyrrha as something more than a partner and a friend.

 _Picture Pyrrha as a girlfriend,_ Jaune thought. _Picture her as a potential spouse. Imagine a life with her. Just think about how happy you could be with her. She's a great friend and she's always looked out for me, even if I don't deserve to be looked out for. Pyrrha Nikos. Girlfriend. Potential partner-for-life._

Nothing. No thoughts of excitement or anticipation. No thoughts of eagerness or joy. No thoughts of hope or sensation. No thoughts that soothed or gratified him in any way.

Pyrrha Nikos as more than a friend?

It didn't click in his mind. There wasn't even a small notion of it working in any scenario that life presented to him.

So he tried again.

Jaune may have been paying attention with his eyes, but his mind only picked up various tidbits here and there as the film continued on.

 **"Then I quit and you're screwed. Bye-Bye Margret. It really has been a little slice of heaven."**

 **"Andrew!"**

He missed something. It sounded like things were going down fast.

But he was focused on trying to see Pyrrha in a different light.

Still nothing.

His eyes shifted to Yang, who was attentively watching the movie.

And all at once, his mind went from a blank slate to a tornado of thoughts. So many thoughts about her.

Her smile, so contagious. Her character, amusing. Her inner demons, so understandable to him.

They were aligned.

Jaune shook his head a bit violently. No. Friends. They were friends. That was what they were. They weren't going to be anything more.

"Jaune," Pyrrha whispered. "Is something wrong?"

He looked her in the eye. She implored him to tell him what was wrong, what he was thinking.

"Sorry," he said. "Movie reminded me of something."

"Bad," Pyrrha asked.

"Depends on your view," Jaune commented quietly. "I got sidetracked. Let's just get back to it."

Pyrrha nodded in acceptance before turning her head back.

Jaune let out a mental breath of relief.

Just keep watching, and pretend that Pyrrha wasn't touching him like this.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **"Andrew."**

 **…**

 **"Andrew."**

 **SMACK.**

 **"Ah! Please don't do that."**

 **"Didn't tell me about all the family businesses, honey!"**

 **…**

 **"He was probably just being modest, dear."**

Yang snorted lightly. Modest was a light way of putting it. This guy was insanely rich if what she was interpreting was correct. Of course it was just like the guy to not show all of his cards.

The brawler of Team RWBY was finding all sorts of ways to laugh at this thing. There weren't any bad puns like she did, but hey, it had its moments. She could appreciate it.

Yang wasn't one for romances, but this one was far from the overly-emotional and cutesy archetype. No, what was here was a rather awkward and forced mutually beneficial partnership. That made for a far more interesting story, at least for her it did.

Looking at Blake, Yang could see that the Faunus huntress was really drawn into the movie. Her amber eyes trained so intensely that the blonde brawler thought they might catch fire. Her partner was always a sucker for romances and more explicit scenes, and Yang always found endless ways to prod at Blake's choice of literature.

Yang then found herself wanting more popcorn, as a light growl from her stomach alerted her. She turned to Jaune to see if he would be willing to give the bowl back to her.

Then she saw something that made her mind swirl with mixed feelings.

Pyrrha looked to be cuddling up to Jaune, and Yang thought it seemed like she'd designed this moment to get close to him. That made her sulk.

Jaune on the other hand, was not trying at all to cuddle Pyrrha. More like he was attempting to not notice her. He could very well be trying to keep distance from his partner. That made Yang ease up.

Who was she to judge them? She was just Jaune's friend, and neither of them were made to do anything for one another. They had reached an accord about this. In fact, as a friend, it was probably a good thing to encourage this. Without even knowing it, Jaune had captured the heart of Pyrrha Nikos. Surely he could benefit from a girlfriend that looked after him.

But what if Pyrrha got her way into Jaune's heart? What if the invincible girl got Jaune as a boyfriend? What would that mean for Yang?

Would he focus his attention on Pyrrha more?

That would mean-

 _That would mean no more benefits._ Yang mulled over this. _That would mean I'd have to find someone else._

Someone else? Like who? There wasn't anyone else that understood her like Jaune did. That's why they were what they were.

He knew the pain of feeling feeble. He knew the feeling of shame. He knew the desire of self-improvement.

They were so alike.

And to lose him?

No. That would not happen. Let not the thought even exist.

 _I won't lose him. Nobody takes my friends away from me._

If Pyrrha thought that she was going to just swipe the rug from underneath Yang, then she was in for a surprise.

Nobody took anything from Yang Xiao Long.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

By the time the film had finished, it was late, and most of the eight friends had already fallen asleep. Nora had been the first to turn the lights out. Ren had followed suit. Ruby had drooled on Weiss's bed, which agitated the heiress; the leader of Team RWBY was placed on her bunk. The heiress cleaned up her bed as best she could before relaxing herself and then turning in for the night. Pyrrha had fallen asleep next to Jaune. Blake had surprisingly fallen asleep as well. Yang was getting close to falling asleep.

The only one who was still awake was Jaune. And when the credits rolled, he lifted himself from Pyrrha, turned off the television, then quietly snuck out and returned to his team's room.

The entire time, he was trying to keep himself from wandering too much. In light of the events of today and yesterday night, some alone time was much needed

But as he turned the knob to open the door, a hand found his wrist.

"What's wrong, Jaune?" came Yang's voice.

Even in the darkened hallway, he could make out her basic shape.

"That movie," Jaune bit his lips. "It, um, got me thinking."

"What about?" She leaned closer.

"You know," he spoke nervously. "That guy reminded me of myself in a lot of ways. He had a dream, he wasn't exactly the best ladies' man. He had a family that loved him."

"Then that's another reason to like him more," Yang held his other hand. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"I dunno." He looked at their joined hands. "Why, what's your take?"

"Well, I liked it. It was a bit cheesy in some sections, but it's got some interesting chemistry."

"Yeah, a mix of good and bad."

"So how does this relate to you ditching us?"

Damn, he thought he was in the clear.

"It just feels weird that all of us are sleeping in the same room."

It sounded like a good excuse coming from him, but it was also laced with extreme discomfort at the fact that now he and Yang were sleeping in a room with their friends. Given recent events, he was feeling a bit under the gun so to speak.

"Ruby did say it was a slumber party," Yang reminded him "And that means we all sleep as a group."

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay," Jaune said.

Yang would've liked to argue further, but she thought better of it. She wouldn't do what Pyrrha was doing.

"Okay," she whispered. "Do what you want."

She looked up at him. He looked down at her.

Then she leaned in for a quick kiss on the lips.

It was supposed to be quick, but the moment he put a bit of pressure on, it gradually escalated.

There was no lust. There was no need.

A moment of reassurance for the two of them.

They separated, light gasps escaping.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin?"

"We can't, Yang. They'll figure it out."

"I didn't say we had to do anything like that. Is cuddling such a crime?"

No, it wasn't.

"But they'll get the wrong idea."

"You don't have a girlfriend right?"

"No."

"Good, then I'm not offending anyone."

"No."

He still wanted to reconsider this, but with a tired mind, he wasn't in any mood to put up a serious fight.

So it was with mild trepidation that he climbed up to Yang's bunk with her, laying down cautiously as if afraid the bed was going to swallow him.

Then she put herself on top of him.

"Really," he whispered.

"You're comfortable, "she explained.

Jaune blinked

"So I'm here because I'm a pillow?"

Yang smirked.

"Not just any pillow. You're MY pillow."

He grimaced. "Now I know I've become useless when I'm being used like this."

"Just shut up and go to sleep," Yang murmured.

...

"How do we explain this in the morning, Yang?"

She leaned into his ear.

"You worry too much, Jaune, but if you must know, then we'll say that I invited you to talk, and we found ourselves like this in the morning. Besides, I think you're glad to be here."

Jaune became cognizant of the fact that his hands were already on her body.

"Naughty boy," Yang taunted.

Then she made her own move, and his breathing became fragmented.

Dear sweet torture.

* * *

 **Oh no I didn't! HELL NO!**

 **But seriously, as I've said enough times, this is NOT a smut story. I'm really pushing it now with this, and this is all that I dare to use. Any more and we're entering territory that will destroy the story as I've known from the beginning and from what I've read from reviews.**

 **Oh dear Pyrrha, whatever will I do with you? You've got a serious fight on your hands, and I'm afraid that the odds just aren't in your favor.**

 **Before I say anything else, let me take a moment to convey gratitude The numbers of this story is simply a major WOW for me: 106 reviews, 360 follows, 264 favorites, and over 15,000 views. This is the most attention I've gotten for a story, and because of that, I'm determined to make this into the best story I can.**

 **If you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know. If you hated it, I'd like to know why. Feedback and criticism is appreciated. This story may be experimental, but trust me, I wanna know the buzz.**

 **Anyone want to guess what movie I'm referencing? No hints other than the lines that I gave. There are some surprising parallels I've found.**

 **And finally, a special thanks to my beta-readers "Operator Blake" and "** **Trance Sephiroth"** **for helping me out with this chapter as well as Makentsu for the cover art. I can't thank them enough for their help in making a good story even better.**

 **Thanks for reading this chapter, all of you, and remember:**

 _ **"You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win."**_

 **Ted Turner**

 **Peace out!**


	5. Ch 5: Yellow

Beta Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 5: Yellow

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Team RWBY's Dorm**

Nora was the first one in Team RWBY's dorm to rise from her slumber. The first thing she did was to see who was curled up next to her. She wasn't surprised to find that it was Ren beside her, as he was the only person who ever slept beside her. Jaune and Pyrrha slept alone, not together-together with anyone, or each other.

She thought that the two of them should be together-together. It was something of an annoyance to watch the two of them dance around each other like they did, but not like literally dancing around each other. Jaune was rather oblivious to the hints, which was quite amazing, considering that even she could see the hints, and she often missed a great many details with her chaotic mentality. Just to be sure that she hadn't been seeing things, she had asked Ren if her opinion was unfounded. In more eloquent terms, he had agreed with what she believed.

So every day, she and Ren watched their leader and his partner, waiting for the day that they would be together-together. Surely it wouldn't be too long before something happened. Sometimes it was just pure torture to wait for them to hurry up and kiss.

Now that Nora thought about it, she realized that the two of them had been together when they were watching the movie. Hadn't they watched a romantic comedy last night? And hadn't it been the two of them that picked it?

No, wait. Jaune had declared that he had let Pyrrha choose the movie.

Nora grinned. Oh that mischievous spartan. This had to part of her master plan to get the blonde knight to notice her.

With Ren still sleeping, his breathing light, Nora raised her head and her eyes flickered to the left, expecting to see Jaune and Pyrrha curled up against each other so that she could snap a picture with her scroll and hold it over their heads later.

To her surprise and dismay, only Pyrrha remained on the bean bag. Even in her sleep, the redheaded spartan looked unsatisfied. A missing presence was no doubt the reason for the slight frown on her face. Poor girl.

Where was Jaune? Why wasn't he with his partner?

Nora checked to make sure that Ren wasn't going to wake up before she got up very slowly. She may be loud and rambunctious, but she did have her moments of being all ninja and quiet.

The first thing to do was check the room. He had to be in here somewhere.

Weiss and Blake slept on the bottom bunks. The two girls hadn't wrinkled their sheets much, looking like they had remained in the same place for the entire night.

Taking a deep breath, Nora did a quick leap to see if she could find anything from a higher vantage point.

She saw Ruby, whose sheets were in a tangle, her body splayed each and every way possible. Still there was no sign of the blond team leader.

Her feet hit the floor softly. She made sure to cushion her landing with a bit of aura so as not to rouse the entire room. Sneaky time was still in effect.

She took another deep breath and leaped again.

To her other side, Nora could see Yang was sleeping peacefully, the sheets having long abandoned covering her. And there was Jaune sleeping beneath her, his hands clinging to her body as she clung to his.

...what?

Nora barely stopped herself from making a loud bang when her feet hit the ground once again.

Did she see that right, or did she put too much sugar syrup on those pancakes last night? When could anyone get a sugar high?

Nora decided that she needed to get a concrete image of what was going on up there just to be sure. Bouncing wasn't going to get her a clear picture.

Now she had to get up there without making any noise, not an easy thing with seven other hunters in the room sleeping, some being light sleepers.

Nora looked at the bunk bed as she formulated a plan to get up there. Noticing a few shelves in between the two bunk beds, she carefully skipped up to it, putting one foot forward, testing to see if there were any sounds it was going to make.

A slight creak followed, which made Nora freeze.

Ruby groaned lightly in her sleep. Weiss shifted slightly, ruining the perfectly smooth sheets. Pyrrha tucked herself into her body more. Ren didn't react at all. There didn't seem to be any sound from Blake's end.

Okay. Back to work.

Nora risked yet another creak by putting all of her weight on the shelf. Once she was certain no one else was awake, she looked to see just how much she was able to see from her current vantage point.

And she saw everything she needed to see.

Nora was most certainly not still asleep or otherwise mentally unsound. There was Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc sleeping together. Even stranger yet, they looked extremely happy this way, with the blonde girl hugging Jaune and Jaune's arms wrapped around her back tightly. There was absolutely no space between them.

It was cute.

In a friendly sort of way. They weren't together-together, but they looked like they were (considering how Yang was straddling Jaune now.)

It was a good thing that Nora had found this first before anyone else had, especially Pyrrha. Nora was understanding of this sort of relationship, but she wasn't sure if Pyrrha would quite get it like she did. Being together with someone but not together-together was complicated; too many people confused Nora and Ren's relationship as a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship despite it not being that way at all.

Nora admired the scene for a few more seconds.

It wasn't going to last.

Unfortunately, Nora had reached the limits of her ability to remain quiet. It was almost a shame to ruin the tranquility of this scene.

Oh well. There would be more times no doubt.

Just how many? Ah, that didn't matter now.

She took one large breath, her face with a maddening smile.

One.

Two.

Three.

"NORA!"  
The effect was instantaneous and Jaune and Yang reacted quite violently; Yang jumped up with a start, and in her haste, she accidently hit Jaune in the gut, which prompted him to cry out in pain. He then promptly fell off the bunk and hit the ground with an unceremonious thud.

Everyone else was quick to wake up to the commotion, confused faces plain to see. Some of them jumped up from Jaune's initial cry of pain.

"What's going on," Ruby shouted.

"What is the meaning of this incessant noise," Weiss groaned. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"JAUNE," Yang cried out.

The blonde brawler leaped down from her bunk and quickly cradled the blond knight as he cringed in pain.

"I'm so sorry," Yang managed. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine," Jaune tried to assure. "Just a scratch."

He tried to lift his head, and in the process, his body moved as well, and he found himself wincing in pain. His aura would heal him no problem, but he had to deal with the momentary pain until then. Yang forced him down, and he complied.

"Nora," Yang looked cross. "What the hell was that?"

"ME," the bomber cried. "NORA!"

"We got it the first time Nora," Ren rose to his feet. "Let's just make sure Jaune's going to be okay."

"Okay," Nora said, "Sorry, Jaune-Jaune."

Pyrrha went to Jaune's side as well to see if he was okay. She cast a wary look at Yang while she was holding Jaune.

"I'll take care of him," Pyrrha spoke.

Yang looked slightly offended. "What, I can't take care of a friend?"

"Since when do you care when Jaune is hurt, Yang?"

"Since I became his friend. You can't tell me who I can't hang out with."

"Guys, don't fight," Ruby pleaded.

Pyrrha looked ready to argue back, but seeing Jaune in pain and hearing Ruby's words forced her to ignore how Yang held Jaune. Now was not the time to be like this, but it was hard not to notice how the blonde brawler held her partner.

"Then we'll both take care of him," Pyrrha exasperated. "I just want to know that he's okay."

She then turned to Jaune, who looked at her with just as much worry as she displayed to him.

"Sorry, Pyrrha," Jaune said shyly, "Didn't mean to wake you guys."

"It's alright Jaune," the spartan nodded. "But how did this happen anyway?"

"Uh," he looked unsure.

"I invited him up so we could talk for a bit," Yang broke in. "Accidently jabbed him in the guts when Nora spooked us."

"Wait, what?" Ruby butted in, "Yang doesn't ever let anyone sleep on her bunk bed, like ever. Last time someone tried…"

Yang's eyes didn't leave Jaune. "Well I did, Rubes. Anyway, we talked for a bit, and I guess we must've fell asleep sometime. Honestly can't remember who snoozed first."

"Yang Xiao Long," Weiss began, "I knew you were a piece of work, but this is-"

"Jeez, Weiss-cream, you make it sound like we-"

"Please don't," Pyrrha halted Yang's words. "Not now."

Yang glared a bit harder.

Pyrrha turned to Weiss. "Don't encourage Yang."

Weiss glanced at the spartan, then nodded her head.

The spartan then eyed Blake. "And don't even think about it."

"What," Blake raised her hands. "I didn't do anything."

"Guys, I'm right here," Jaune deadpanned. "And I'm fine by the way."

This time, as he stood up, he was able to do so without trouble. Ren was the next to check him over carefully for any more signs of injury. Yang stayed close-by, just to make sure that he wouldn't fall over, and so did Pyrrha.

Ren stepped up. "You sure you're okay, Jaune?"

Jaune nodded once. "Really, couldn't be better, Ren."

"Just making sure, brother."

All eyes then turned to the guilty N of Team JNPR. The pink girl looked around and adopted an innocent look.

"What," she shrugged.

Everyone groaned. Of course she would forget what just happened. Typical Nora.

Jaune shook his head. "Never mind. Forget it."

"Is she always like this," Blake asked.

"Pretty much," Ren affirmed.

"You sure you're okay," Yang approached. "That was kind of a hard hit and landing."

"If I feel more pain, I'll be the first to tell you guys," Jaune answered. "But enough about me. We've got a whole day ahead of us."

After recovering from the mishap that had jolted them all awake and Jaune showing everyone that he was physically fine, the members of Team JNPR quickly migrated to their room. As soon as they door was closed, Pyrrha's entire demeanor changed from one of worry to chastisement.

"Nora," she turned to the bomber, "That was not a nice thing to do to Jaune."

"Hey," Nora cried, "He's fine now right? Why aren't you mad at Yang more?"

Mad at Yang? Why would Pyrrha be mad at Yang, Jaune wondered. It was just an accident.

"Guys," Jaune said. "Can we n-"

"That's… not the issue at hand," Pyrrha brushed aside.

"So it is an issue," Nora asserted. "I knew it!"

What in the world was Remnant were they talking about? Just what was Nora getting at? What issue did Pyrrha have? Why would she have an issue with Yang?

Could she be…

"Nora!"

"Don't Nora me! You know I'm right!"

That did it for Jaune; with no more desire to hear the two girls bicker, he barged into the argument, pushing the two girls aside, his arms outstretched. His head moved from left to right to look at them both. His eyes were set into a hard stare, an uncommon thing for him to do, which made all eyes fall to him.

"Guys," he strained. "That's enough. Don't talk about me like I'm not here. We're a team, and the last thing we need to be doing now is fighting and then feeling sour towards each other."

Pyrrha looked ashamed, and Nora said nothing, but didn't dare to interrupt.

"Now if two have a problem," he continued, "Then we'll settle it later when everyone's in a mood to listen. So who's going to go shower first?"

Quiet filled the room.

"I'll go first," Pyrrha jumped at the offer.

As she gathered her attire that she was going to wear for the day, it was clear that she was in a mood. Jaune knew this one very well. The cold shoulder was nothing new to him, and he wished he didn't have to revisit it.

He hoped it would end quickly.

The door to the bathroom shut. leaving him, Nora and Ren.

"What's going on Jaune?"

The knight turned to the ninja, who was giving an expectant look.

Would it be right to say anything at all?

The choice was no longer his as Nora spoke up.

"I caught Jaune and Yang snuggling like together," Nora elaborated, "But not like together-together."

Ren's lips pressed together as he considered his partner's words very carefully. Jaune watched the magenta eyes of his battle brother as he rolled his mind around with the new information. It was embarrassing enough that Nora had been the one to discover them cuddling, but now that Ren knew, his plan to keep this all under wraps was going out the window.

"I see," Ren spoke. "Is this your new thing with Yang?"

"I would say no," Jaune bit his lip lightly, "But I'm not sure if Yang feels the same way that I do. I'd have to ask her first."

"How about we let it go," Ren said quickly. "I think we all need to get back into routine."

"Yeah," Jaune admitted. "It's been an interesting past couple of days."

"For you at least," Nora grumbled. "We've been all normal and all of that boring stuff."

"Nora," Jaune chuckled. "We're huntsman and huntresses. That's not really normal in the least."

Nora considered Jaune's point for a brief moment. Her turquoise eyes carried a look of concentration. Neither of the boys said anything, letting their friendly bubbly bomber come to her own conclusion.

"Good point," she conceded. "But it was still boring."

"Because it didn't involve explosions," Ren added. "Or breaking legs."

"Or pancakes," Nora interjected.

"Or pancakes," Jaune repeated, laughing lightly.

That was Team JNPR in a single conversation: crazy, chaotic, and plain weird. If a conversation like this didn't happen at least once a day, then the team wasn't operating "normally."

And Jaune wouldn't trade it for anything on Remnant.

Nothing whatsoever.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Breakfast that morning was as ordinary as any meal between the two teams. Nora talked about a dream about being queen of a faraway land with Ren giving his interpretation. Blake held her book while also partially listening to the banter at the table, and Weiss was reprimanding Ruby for eating cookies early in the morning. Pyrrha sat next to Jaune as she did every single day for every meal, her eyes paying attention to him.

It was pretty normal for Teams RWBY and JNPR.

Well, almost normal if not for two people.

Jaune and Yang.

Something was up.

Pyrrha watched the two blondes, who were staring at anything but each other. It was like their bonding experience had become null and void. To make it even more unusual, they weren't even pretending to ignore each other. There was no malice in their avoidance of each other, but just the same, they didn't dare to even chance looking at one another. Not even momentary glances were exchanged between the two of them.

It hadn't started out this way. Team JNPR had gotten to the cafeteria first, and made their rounds to get their trays of food. They were soon followed by Team RWBY, who did the same thing. Neither team showed any noteworthy behaviors this morning.

Then the two teams sat down across from each other. Again, nothing unusual. It was an unspoken instinctive thing they did.

What on Remnant was going on with them?

Had Jaune been paying attention to Pyrrha, he would have seen her observing him closely. His mind, however, was in deep thought as he processed just how closely he and Yang had dodged a bullet. It was bad idea to even consider sleeping in Yang's bunk. They were in a room with other people. They could've been easily spotted… they had already been spotted, by Nora, and even though her reaction was somewhat expected, the fact remained that they had been caught. What's to say that the next time, it wouldn't by Ruby who saw it? Or Weiss?

Monty Oum, he wanted to live to become a huntsman, not die by the hands of huntresses in training. How would his ancestors be able to smile upon him if he died by friends who caught him sleeping with Yang? What would his parents and sisters say for that matter?

 _My tombstone would probably have the most embarrassing text written on it. Here lies Jaune Arc, killed by his own friends for sleeping in the same bed as his newest friend._

Jaune didn't laugh at his own "joke."

Opposite to Jaune, Yang too was sorting out her own disarrayed thoughts. Last night, cuddling with Jaune just seemed just like a casual thing to do given that they had gone all the way. She ignored his pleas of concern and simply enjoyed the moment that they shared, basking in each other's physical presence. It had taken Yang some effort on her part to get Jaune to relax, but he did eventually.

In enjoying the moment, she had completely lost sight of what it would mean if the two of them were caught in such a compromising position. Once again, her mentality had nearly gotten them into a really bad situation. Just how desperate was she for Jaune's presence?

 _Apparently desperate enough that you didn't care about consequences. You were thinking about yourself and not about Jaune. I'm not sure he would've survived Weiss. Way to go Yang._

"Yang, Jaune," Pyrrha called out. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the both said.

Their eyes met briefly before they continued to evade each other's gaze. Now that they had finally looked at one another, they had no need to do it again.

Pyrrha had discerned that something was definitely wrong. She wasn't the only one that had seen this; now everyone else at the table studied Jaune and Yang. Tense didn't even begin to describe the two of them now. Yang clenched and unclenched her hands repeatedly while Jaune breathed through slightly gritted teeth.

Subtlety be damned.

"What's wrong," Ruby demanded.

"Why does anything have to be wrong," Jaune answered nervously. "Nothing to see here."

"Yeah, what's with you guys," Yang shot back, "We're fine."

Nora and Ren played along with the rest of their friends, even knowing what it was exactly that had set them off. Already this new friendship was proving to be wonderful and perilous. Certainly the two blondes were open about their new relationship, but the extent that they were being physically intimate could easily be mistaken for something much more. It was likely that they were jittery from the possibility of the others finding out about this new-found addition to their relationship.

Nora was naturally excited that her leader had branched out to find new friends. Friends were a good thing, and Jaune could always use another person to be together with, but not together-together. Still, Pyrrha might get the wrong idea regardless of what relationship Jaune shared with Yang.

Ren couldn't really say anything more than what Nora had told him, but he assumed that whatever position they were in when Nora found them was enough to give off the wrong impression. Then again, it was far too early in the relationship for him to be coming to any conclusions.

It was better to simply let this one go and see what would come of it.

Ren and Nora's clarity still didn't solve the issue of Jaune and Yang's attempts to cover up their actions at this moment, but what could they say? If they jumped to the defense of the two blondes, it might give off the impression that they knew something and weren't sharing it. Staying quiet would be safer for them.

But they were friends in need. Ren and Nora weren't ones to sit idly by while the two blondes were torn apart by their other friends.

Then Nora got this superb idea. With everyone distracted, their food was left unattended. It would be so easy to just swindle them all, but several unhappy huntresses on her tail probably wasn't a favorable idea.

"If you guys don't eat your food," she smiled, "I'll be happy to do it for you."

The reactions were immediate as everyone at the table moved to shield their food from Nora in any way. While it was true that pancakes were Nora's default favorite food, she did love eating in general. Most foods and drinks were fair game for Nora as far as the seven of them were concerned.

Everyone was quick to resume eating in silence. Nora took this time to quickly return to where she had left off in her story, with Ren following along. Astonishingly, everyone actually seemed to be paying attention to varying degrees, most likely to be sure that Nora wouldn't follow up on what she had said. Food seemed to disappear faster than normal.

With their teams distracted, Jaune and Yang, for the first time since sitting down looked directly at each other, their eyes locking. It didn't take them long to know that the two of them were thinking the same thing.

Yang mouthed a few words. Jaune frowned a bit and subtly indicated that he didn't understand. She checked to make sure that no one was paying attention to them before letting out the words as quietly as possible.

"We've got to get out of here," she whispered. "Follow my lead."

What choice did he have?

He nodded, and mentally prepared himself as best as he could.

"Well it's been real interesting," Yang exclaimed, "But I'm gonna hit the training room. Gotta destroy something."

Yang quickly rose and took her tray to dump the remainders of her breakfast. She glanced at Jaune before exiting.

That was supposed to be his cue to make an exit. It didn't take him long to find a satisfactory excuse.

"I've been thinking," Jaune followed up. "I've got some homework to do. I'm behind on the assignments due on Monday."

Before anyone could say anything to him, he quickly deposited his tray in the wash area and walked off as casually as he could.

The moment he was out of eyeshot of his friends, he felt himself being dragged by a very familiar blonde beauty.

"What now Yang?"

She didn't look back at him. "You need a reason to be with me?"

She sounded mad.

"Now?" Jaune's head glanced around. "Yeah, I do, considering our teams kind of notice things like this. I can't lie about where I'm going."

The hallways were busy, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Yang as she continued to drag Jaune, but she couldn't care less about them.

"You're not lying." Yang's voice softened. "You will be studying. You're just going to be watching me train while you do it."

Jaune blinked. "That's not studying Yang."

"Sure it is," Yang answered.

"Yang," Jaune sighed. "Can you stop for one moment for crying out loud?"

Hearing his voice, she stopped her relentless pace, then turned to Jaune. He didn't say anything for a moment after she looked to him. He wanted to know that she wasn't going to dismiss, skip, or otherwise ignore what he was about to say.

Jaune took a long breath. "What's going on with us?"

Yang's eyes shifted in confusion. "What's there to say about us? We were clear where we stood right?"

"No, we're not clear," Jaune shot back, "Or at least I'm not clear. We said that we're friends. Nothing more, and yet here we are acting like we've got something to hide from our teams."

"You know why, Jaune. We may have set our own boundaries, but I don't think our teammates will be so cool about it, except maybe Nora… and Ren."

"Then why did you invite me to your bunk," Jaune demanded. "If you're so keen on keeping our relationship a secret, why be obvious about it?"

"Hey," Yang growled, "Don't play the victim here. You liked it and you know it."

"I didn't like being nailed in the guts and colliding with the floor."

"Don't take words and cram them in my mouth, vomit boy. You know what I mean."

For the first time in possible the entirety of them knowing each other, they glared at each other with equal passion. Never before had the two of them actually held any sort of negativity towards the other in this manner. Those within the hallways were quick to give the two arguing hunters space. Teenagers and fights were two things that made for an explosive issue.

Jaune was the first to lose his anger. Yang was his friend, and he shouldn't be mad at someone he called a friend.

"I'm sorry," Jaune ran a hand through his hair, "I'm not blaming you for anything. I don't want to blame you for anything, but if we're going to be the way we said, maybe we need to get to know each other better."

It was Yang's turn to lose her anger and see that she didn't wish to be angry at Jaune or place any further blame. Neither of them were familiar with this relationship, and it was natural to react in unnatural ways because this wasn't what they were used to.

Yang pressed her lips together before exhaling a very heavy breath.

"Alright," Yang crossed her arms, "But not here."

"Ditto," Jaune agreed. "I just need to get my studying material."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune had gathered the reading materials that he needed to study and he joined Yang in the training room.

Even with Yang systematically trashing bot after bot, Jaune managed to work on his assignments. His headphones muffled her battle sounds while he worked, but he still couldn't help but notice the slight tremors in the room courtesy of her immense strength. Occasionally, Jaune would look up to see how much Yang was dominating, unsurprisingly, she was doing so with much panache.

Undoubtedly, she was one of the best fighters of the first year, only behind Pyrrha in terms of power and skill. Brutal didn't even begin to describe how Yang fought. The few times that Jaune had been on the receiving end of her fists made him wish for Cardin's mace. Even with him, she held nothing back. If anything, Jaune felt that she singled him out so she could beat the weakness out of him.

The only real consolation in fighting Yang is that unlike other students, she didn't tease him with her words or with her body. Everyone knew that Jaune's combat skills were not the best during first semester.

But Yang hadn't faced him yet this semester, and with the help of Pyrrha's training, he had vastly improved his swordsmanship. He was still a better defender though, and now, his best card was to defend himself and wear the enemy out as they tried to negate or bypass his defenses. That was the reason that he had begun to win against other students.

Would it be enough with Yang?

Jaune liked to think so.

As tempting as it was to find out just how much his skills were worth against his fellow blond, Jaune would save it for the classroom. He would get more satisfaction out of going down in less time if more people were there to see just how much he'd improved.

Jaune glanced up from his studies on dust formulas to look up and see Yang. She seemed to be enjoying venting on the bots very much.

Her form stayed on the move as she moved from one opponent to the next. Her golden blonde hair flew back as she kept in motion. Her lilac eyes showed vibrantly and her lips were molded into a smile.

Beautiful.

One side of his headphones fell, but he didn't bother to put it back in his ear. It was a good thing he didn't because he wouldn't have heard Yang otherwise.

"I thought we were supposed to be getting to know each other better," Yang scolded, "Not you staring at me, even though I can't blame you."

"What do you want to know then," Jaune conceded. "I'm not exactly sure what about me is so interesting."

Yang didn't respond immediately, taking down a bot with an uppercut, then letting her gauntlets tear another bot apart.

 _"Level 39 complete."_

Well Yang already had an idea of what she wanted to know more about. Since he knew more or less about her family and some things about her as a child, it seemed only fair that she knows something about him in those areas as well.

She especially wanted to know more about his family.

Yang pushed a lock of her hair aside. "So what's it like with seven sisters?"

"That depends on which sister or which combination of sisters. There's a lot I could talk about."

"Who's the youngest?"

"That would be Blanche. She's two years younger than me. She's like a combination of Ruby's upbeat personality with a more refined tongue."

Jaune stood up and then did an impression.

"Elder brother, may your journey to Beacon Academy give you many companions and the skills to transform into a huntsman that will be a defender of Remnant."

Yang's lip curled upwards. His imitation was like Ruby's excitable voice with an affinity for complicated words. It was quite endearing.

"Sounds like an awesome sister," Yang snickered, "And that's just the first of seven."

He chuckled.

"You don't know the half of it."

Yang shut off the training bots and joined Jaune as he continued to work on his assignments, the same ones that she ought to be working on as well. Ah well, she'd get to them later. If she really needed to, Ruby would be willing to trade homework for cookies, not that Yang wasn't capable of doing her own work. It was just easier to have the work done for her.

Plus, Jaune was just so much more interesting anyway.

"So who's the next youngest?"

"That would be me and Joan."

"You have a twin?" Yang perked up.

"Yep," Jaune affirmed, "Though I'm the younger one by thirteen minutes."

"So I take it you two are alike in most ways?"

Jaune smirked. "Saying that we're alike isn't doing it justice. If we were the same gender, you wouldn't even know who was who personality-wise. We look very similar, even as we are now."

"Vomit girl then," Yang grinned evilly. "If she's like you, I'd like to meet her."

"I'm sure she'd like you too," Jaune agreed with a tint of sarcasm, "If I can like you, she can do it too."

Although it was meant to be a small compliment and nothing of serious meaning, to Yang, it lifted her spirits up in ways that made her just a little jubilant. Even when the dork wasn't trying to do it, he had his ways of being nice to people. Jaune probably didn't even have the will to be mad or angry at anyone for a long time. He probably didn't even know the meaning of a grudge. That was another reason he was a great friend.

And that was one more sister that she could get along with if she ever met Joan.

"So who's this Jaune I keep hearing about," Yang adopted an innocent yet sarcastic tone.

Jaune knew what she was doing, and to Yang's delight, he played along with her joke

"Jaune," he shrugged. "You wouldn't like him. He's boring you know, pretty average in every way. He doesn't even have many people to call friend, and the few that do tend to use him."

Yang punched him. "Sounds like a great guy. Introduce me sometime. Maybe I can see if he's worthy friend material."

"I'll be sure to do that," he laughed. "Next up, there's Mindy, the Arc with the most hip. She could get guys and girls to fall to her feet at the snap of a finger."

A hip Arc family member? Yang would believe it when she saw it.

"Please," Yang waved off. "You couldn't be cool on your best day. How can your sister be cool?"

"You've never seen anyone like her before," Jaune warned. "And if you ever do, you won't ever forget the experience. Trust me, I've lived with her."

"I'll believe it when the moon falls to Remnant," Yang finalized.

"Your loss," he spoke. "But anyway, next are the first twins, Jin and Gwen. They constantly doted on the rest of us. Especially me, and I think that they're the reason I've never had a girlfriend before. Probably scared them off before I had a chance."

Jaune wasn't paying attention to Yang's face as he laughed at his own predicament. Had he seen her face, he would've seen the frown that colored her features. It was understandable that older sisters were overprotective of their younger siblings. It didn't help that Jaune was the only brother among seven sisters.

Okay, so this wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

 _..._ wait. What?

Yang only had to worry about his sisters if Jaune was her boyfriend, and he was far from her boyfriend. They were simply physically intimate with no strings attached. That's how they said it and that's how she liked it. She wasn't ready for a boyfriend.

"Then there's Viola, the second-oldest," Jaune elaborated. "She's the scholar of the family, the real bookish type. She's a doctor actually, and really good at it from what I remember of her talking about it."

"Like Blake," Yang compared.

"... doesn't Blake read some real, uh, suggestive stuff?"

"So you paid attention to our conversations about her smut?"

"How could I not? You're rather impossible to miss."

"Glad to know I'm still popular. But we're getting off subject. I hope your sister's no perv like Blake. One smut reader is bad enough."

 _Or good enough depending on your point of view,_ Yang mulled.

"You've read her books haven't you Yang?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you implied it, and that's enough evidence for me."

Shameless.

Ever the model of humility and restraint Yang was, but she wouldn't be Yang if she acted otherwise. Bad puns and jokes and sexual innuendos were her bread and butter. If those things were taken away from her, well, Jaune wondered just how much more boring it would be.

"Anyway," Jaune continued. "Finally, there's Scarlet Arc, or Scarlet the Protector. Kickass fighter and protector of her siblings from all those who would try and date us. That goes triple for me."

"Just how protective was she?"

Jaune looked at the ground. It looked like he was having a serious debate about how to break the story to her. Yang wasn't afraid and she stared him down as he tried to spare her the details. When she didn't let up, he sighed.

"Three years ago," Jaune began. "There was this girl I had a crush on. I uh tried to get her attention. Let's just say her insults made Weiss's look like a pup before a wolf. To make a painful story more manageable, said girl got a visit from Scarlet, and from then on, every time she looked at me, she would scream and run."

Yang whistled loudly. "Man, talk about overprotective."

"Yeah," Jaune blew a breath out. "Wow."

"Still, if I were you," Yang said, "I wouldn't be so glum about all of that attention. I'd be eating it all up. I mean, how many can say they've got siblings practically doing your work for you?"

"But that's just it," Jaune exclaimed. "I practically had to run away to Beacon to avoid my sisters. My parents, they said they'd cover as best they could, but if they found me, they couldn't do anything about the potential punishments from them."

"Ouch," the blonde brawler articulated. "What did I say about sisters, Jaune? You don't disobey them, especially big sisters."

"You never said that, Yang. You said don't raid their closets."

"Same difference," she dismissed. "Point is, you don't disobey the sibling hierarchy. If you haven't mastered that after all of these years, I'm still wondering how you've survived up to this point."

"Like I said, I'm the only brother they have. They've all got a soft spot for me. They won't do anything to me."

"You're in Beacon," Yang deadpanned. "By now they know where you are, and now that they know you're training to be a huntsman, there's nothing holding them back."

Jaune's face began to pale at this, and Yang mentally slapped herself. She'd meant it to be a joke not to be taken that seriously. Still, it did have merit.

"Don't worry," Yang grabbed his shoulders. "I was just joking. Please ignore what I said, Jaune."

"Too late," he gasped. "I'm a dead man! What was I thinking!? What am I going to do when I go back home?! I can't die now, not like this! I had so much to do!"

Okay, this situation was getting out of hand. A rambling Jaune was normally not a reason to panic, but this time, Yang had caused his rambling. She had to think of something quickly.

Then she got an idea.

She smashed her lips against Jaune's, and he stopped his frantic words and movements, slowly relaxing into the kiss. Yang moved her hands to his head to gently tug on his hair. The effect was instantaneous as he moaned lightly, a definite indicator he was enjoying it.

His hands had made their way to her back, and she shivered slightly at his touch. He then pushed back with his mouth, and she met his pressure.

She was the first to separate.

"Better?" she asked.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Better."

To make sure that he was okay, Yang gently pulled his head to her chest and hugged him tightly; he didn't resist her and embraced her with just as much energy as she did. His breathing calmed until he was rendered silent.

Yang closed her eyes.

Jaune did as well.

No further words were spoken.

* * *

 **Welcome back readers. I'm sorry for getting this chapter out a week late. Such is college life.**

 **Since the beginning of this story, I've wanted to slow down a bit in order to begin to give our two blonds more time to process their new found relationship. Looking back, I realized how fast I moved in writing and I hope to tone it down for the sake of character develop** **ment. I intend to take this story very seriously. I don't want to disappoint.**

 **I also finally got a chance to watch Ant-Man (2015), and now Scott Lang has joined my roster of favorite superheroes. With Captain American Civil War coming out soon, I'm beginning to wonder what would happen if I created a RWBY team with Marvel characters? Aweso** **me things, that's what would happen.**

 **Anyway, if you guys loved this chapter, then let me know in a review. If you hated it, tell me why. Feedback, thoughts, criticisms, and all of that lot are also read. I'm sorry if I can't get to all of your reviews quickly.**

 **Props to "Operator Blake" and "Trance Sephiroth" for beta-reading this chapter.**

 **Thank you Makentsu for the art cover.**

 **Thanks for over 26,000 views!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter and remember:**

 _ **"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."**_

 **Albert Einstein**

 **Peace!**


	6. Ch 6: Get it Done

Beta Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 6: Get it Done

 _Yang knew it was a dream because of how unclear everything was to her, but there were things that she was able to understand._

 _She could comprehend the fact that she was pressed up against someone, that the someone in question was Jaune despite not really seeing him that well and that both of them were not facing each other but were, instead, back to back._

 _Their position was not forced, but the two of them remained as they were, sitting on the ground, the backs of their heads touching._

 _What wasn't clear was what were they doing, or what they weren't._

 _Neither of them responded to the other's presence, at least not at first._

 _Then she got up and turned to look at Jaune, who mirrored her own movements. She reached a hand out to him, and he did the same. Their movements were so similar that she could almost be certain that he was a reflection. The only difference was that while she smirked, he smiled._

 _Their palms touched together, their skin brushed against each other very slowly. His fingers were the first to close around her hand, and she followed suit._

 _"What are we doing?" She heard herself ask the question._

 _"Touching hands?" Leave it to him to state the obvious._

 _"No you doofus. I mean what does it mean?" She shook her head in annoyance._

 _"I didn't know it had to mean anything." Jaune looked around them. "It's your crazy dream, not mine. Don't ask me how to interpret it. Why are you even thinking about me?"_

 _"I dunno." She shrugged. "Just did, I guess. Do I have to have a reason for thinking about you?"_

 _"Well considering that you were awake a few minutes ago while in class? Yeah. Probably."_

 _She stopped to think. "There's only one class that I fall asleep in."_

 _"Got that right." He bit his lips._

 _"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!"_

 _Monty Oum._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang's head shot up suddenly. She snorted sort of loudly while doing so. She felt a bit lightheaded and very spaced-out.

Where was she again?

Then she heard Professor Port's voice. It sounded like he was going on and on about the time he had killed a particular Grimm in a spectacular fashion.

Oh yeah, she was in possibly one of the worst classes that she'd ever had to attend, and the only class that she ever fell asleep in.

No offense to Professor Port, but he never could keep a lecture interesting. Few teachers could make class interesting for that matter. Her eyes started drooping and she rubbed them in an effort to try and get rid of her sleepiness. It wouldn't work as she had learned from experience. Unfortunately, there was a grade for participation in this class (to her great annoyance!) and that meant she had to at least try to pay attention. Despite Professor Port being a braggart and a loudmouth, he wasn't stupid; he knew exactly who was and wasn't paying attention to him during lectures.

She might've already been docked marks for falling asleep cold. Who knew?

Looking to her left, she saw that Blake was taking notes, but even the bookworm was beginning to lose her patience. That was saying something about Grimm studies if Blake was going bonkers listening to the professor. The B of team RWBY was the most patient of them all and she kept consistently good grades.

To her right, she saw Ruby and Weiss silently arguing over something. If she had to guess, it had to do something with Ruby's methods of keeping her mind focused in class. Ruby wasn't one to slack off on homework, but she still suffered from the same problem as most students did in this class. Weiss was probably throwing a hissy fit about Ruby doodling when she should be taking notes.

Sometimes, the two partners acted like a married couple. They argued possibly more than she and Blake did at times. She attributed this to the fact that they had starkly contrasting personalities. Well, she and Blake had personality conflicts as well, but they got along just fine. It must be due to Blake's calmness.

All in all, there was nothing that Yang saw as particularly noteworthy.

In the row in front of them sat team JNPR. Nora had long since abandoned taking notes in favor of staring at Ren's notes. The black-haired boy didn't do anything to make Nora take her ownnotes. Pyrrha, like the star pupil she was could be seen in action. Her pencil whipped across the page as she took good notes. Jaune looked to be struggling to stay awake if his hunched posture was any indication. The fact that his head seemed to snap up if it even tilted to the desk just a little bit showed that he was trying his hardest not to slack off.

How the hell did he have good grades if he was dozing off just like everyone else? Professor Port was especially difficult during quizzes and tests.

Right. Pyrrha was his partner, and she was willing to bet lien that the invincible girl would do anything for Jaune, including help him catch up when he wasn't paying attention. It was so unfair in a lot of ways.

She found herself wondering more and more about the relationship between Pyrrha and Jaune. From the very beginning, it was clear the two of them would become very good friends. Pyrrha was everything Jaune wasn't, and Jaune was everything Pyrrha wasn't. In this way they complemented each other quite nicely.

Pyrrha could have anything she wanted in life. Fame? She had more than enough of that. Money? Her sponsorship with Pumpkin Pete gave her that. Opportunities? She was here at Beacon due to her perfect academic record. Friends? She had her team and team RWBY as friends now. Fans? She'd won the Mistral Regional Tournaments four times in a row. How could she not have fans? Good looks? She was beautiful in every way possible.

In short, Pyrrha was just so damn perfect.

Jaune was nothing like Pyrrha. He was everything she wasn't. Fame? He was a nobody from a backwater place. Money? He was average like most people. Opportunities? It was amazing that he was even able to be here. Friends? He was lucky that he'd even made friends at all. Fans? It was more like everyone thought he was pathetic. Good looks? That was still a work in progress.

To put it simply, Jaune was the complete opposite.

That was why they seemed to work so well. Pyrrha helped Jaune become better in almost every way possible, and Jaune in turn gave her simple things she could never have as a celebrity.

Undoubtedly, Jaune was getting more out of their relationship. She taught him how to fight with his own weapons. She taught him how to use aura as an offensive and defensive weapon. She taught him how to study the subjects necessary to become a huntsman. She taught him how to be more confident in himself.

Pyrrha gave him pretty much everything.

On the other hand, what did she give Jaune?

She didn't give him things to better himself as a person. She didn't give him things to help him as a combatant. She didn't give him things to do better in classes. She didn't give even provide him with recreation activities that they could do together.

She could only give him her friendship, and with that came the sexual benefits they had agreed to, but she knew that wasn't really much of a friendship. Sure, they'd had had a heart to heart, two in fact, but she was certain that Jaune and Pyrrha had already experienced that too. Any close friends would have at one point or another.

Friends were supposed to give each other things, and so far, she had barely done that much. What kind of a friend was she?

A lousy one it would seem.

She caught herself staring at the desk in front of her. She hated the melancholy that she was feeling right now.

"Miss Xiao Long," Professor Port sounded. "You have yet to do a demonstration today."

Yang's head snapped towards the center of the room where the professor stood with an expectant look on his face.

Why her?

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune found it even harder to listen to the professor's voice, but he didn't want to disrespect the elder huntsman. The man had experience that none of the students possessed, and experience had taught Jaune that you always listened to people with know-how. It was just common sense to give respect to your superiors. Professor Port was here for a reason, and Jaune just simply accepted this without question.

That being said, it was hard to take him seriously when all he did was brag in his stories. The stories might actually be more useful if he talked less about himself and more about the actualtactics that he'd used to kill the Grimm. It was amazing sometimes to think that people could succeed in this class.

It would be so easy to close his eyes and give into sleep, but he also didn't really want to burden Pyrrha again by making her catch him up on what was said during class. She already did more than enough to help him with training. He needed to be more self-reliant; Pyrrha couldn't always be around to help him.

Once again, he closed his eyes then opened them again, feeling the time it took to blink increase. He was pretty sure that even if he did get more sleep, it wouldn't make much of a difference; ifhe didn't fall asleep from sheer boredom, he would still be bored out of his skull, and therefore be only slightly more effective in class than if he was asleep.

He needed a lot more energy, like Nora did. She seemed to always find some way to remain awake in any situation, but he did question how much she paid attention in class. Ren tried his hardest, but sometimes, his hardest wasn't enough. It was understandable. Pyrrha, however, she managed to do it all somehow. She could keep up with the classes and she was the absolute star pupil in the first-year class of Beacon.

"Miss Xiao Long, you have yet to do a demonstration today." Professor's Port's booming voice sounded through the classroom. "Would you deign to grant us a display of your skills?"

The moment Jaune heard her name being called out, his interest was instantly piqued, as was the many students who were disinterested in the lecture. The blonde brawler didn't seem to sharethe same enthusiasm that everyone else had, she looked far from happy. He could instantly see that this wasn't what she wanted, and Yang was a person of fighting. She lived to fight.

The fact that she wasn't in the mood to fight was something for him to take very seriously.

She didn't even bother to change into her combat attire and simply armed Ember Celica as she looked caught between emotionlessness and anger. The cage rattled a bit as the Grimm within tried to unsuccessfully get out. What was it this time?

Even if the cage was rather large, there was no telling just what Grimm class was inside. Professor Port had a way of surprising you and one could never assume what he brought in wasn'tseriously threatening in some manner.

With a snap of the metal lock, the cage door opened and a Machaera Grimm charged. Yang dodged expertly, all the while keeping an eye on the tiger-like Grimm, its fangs glistening were more advanced Grimm, known for more brains to go with the mindless violence instilled in all Grimm.

Jaune felt his breathing hitch just a little bit as he watched intently. His grip on the desk became tight.

The Machaera charged again, but Yang intercepted it and was now engaged in a pushing match with the Grimm. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration and she was putting some effort into holding her ground. She hadn't even gotten around to using her semblance.

Yang then abruptly yanked hard on her enemy, causing the Grimm to lose footing. It opened its mouth to roar in her face but instead received a round to its throat. With the distraction that provided, Yang was able to use her strength to flip it on its side. Before the Grimm could get up, the brawler took shot after shot until it stopped moving.

To everyone in the room, it was clear Yang wasn't in a good mood. Her breathing was heavy despite having not really done much physically. She looked ready to attack the next thing that so much as looked at her the wrong way.

"Splendid display," Professor Port commented, "Top marks Miss Xiao Long."

The blonde didn't care to respond and simply returned to her seat, keeping her eyes straight ahead and looking at no one. Most wouldn't dare talk to her because they were too afraid. Most people were afraid to talk to Yang because she could kick their butts easily.

Besides, Yang was big girl. She could take care of herself just fine.

Right?

Jaune shook his head in disbelief. He wasn't convinced of his own words. Yang looked a little more than a bit upset. She seemed off somehow; Jaune couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, just that something was wrong.

Or maybe that was just his imagination acting up again. Who knew if there was a problem. Maybe someone had messed with her hair and she was sulking about that. Maybe she wasn't in the mood to work today. Maybe she got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Jaune then rethought carefully. Even if her hair was one of the things she hated getting damaged, Yang eventually got over it. It wasn't like her to be that vain, at least not as far as he'd known her. As for working, Yang always managed without having to be bitter about it. And finally, Yang always woke up with a smile on her face it seemed. Bad moods were rare?

Okay, so maybe there was a real problem.

The question was should he get involved?

He then felt a hand grab his and saw that it was Pyrrha who was pulling on his hand, leading him away from Team RWBY.

...Yang would have to wait.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Blake knew that something was wrong with Yang. How could she not know that something was wrong with her partner?

The strange thing was that whatever was wrong hadn't been evident that morning as Team RWBY had gotten ready for the day and eaten breakfast with their friends in Team JNPR. It had happened sometime in class. Blake could only surmise that Yang had wandered off mentally in class and in that time, she had come to some sort of conclusion that had somehow left her in an unpleasant mood.

That made Blake a little more than worried.

Yang was the person on Team RWBY who kept spirits up with lame puns and terrible humor. Everyone may groan and cringe in pain at her attempts to be humorous, but ultimately, everyone simply accepted this for what it was. Certainly nobody else was willing to step up and take over as the jokester. This combined with her need to be involved in conversation and her overly happy attitude made for a person that almost never frowned of her own will.

Regardless of whenever it did happen, Blake wanted to get to the root of the problem, and fast before the it got out of hand.

The first thing to do was to isolate Yang from everyone else so that nobody would disturb them. That wasn't much of an issue considering how much the busty blonde procrastinated when it came to work. Blake could pass off the excuse to be alone as a means to actually make Yang at least begin their homework.

That opportunity came in the form of lunch break. "Yang, let's go to the library and get to work on our assignments."

Yang didn't look amused. "But they're not due until the end of the week, and besides, they don't take that long. They're as easy as pie."

"Please," Blake rolled her eyes, "Just say yes for once. Would it kill you?"

"Very much so," Yang grumbled.

So instead of asking for Yang's permission, Blake took matters into her own hands and dragged her partner there, meter by meter, with quite a bit of a resistance on Yang's end. What should've been a few minutes of walking turned into ten minutes.

Blake took a moment to find the quietest corner in the library where she usually hid when her teammates became far too much for her to handle. She didn't let go of Yang's hand though, because she was sure that the lilac-eyed girl would bolt the moment she did. Yang had put in a lot of effort to try and escape.

"You can let go, Blake," Yang pouted, "I'm not a little kid, you know."

"Not until I know you won't run away from me." Blake only held Yang's hand tighter in order to make her stance known. "So deal with it."

Blake directed them to the nearby chairs and table. Yang seemed to accept her fate and sat down with her partner.

"So spill, Yang? What's the problem? And don't tell me there's no problem. This morning there wasn't a problem. In class, there was a problem."

"I don't want to talk about it, Blake"

"Then make yourself want to talk about it," Blake growled, "Because I'm not going anywhere until you say something."

She remained unresponsive, choosing to glower at the table, her lips set in a tight line. Blake watched with her own glare, waiting for Yang to say something.

A few minutes passed, and still Yang wouldn't speak, her breathing getting more heavy, indicating her increasing ire.

"You can't ignore me forever Yang." Blake struggled to maintain a steady grip on her voice.

"Actually, I can. In fact, I could even break your grip and get away easily, Blake." The blonde girl put a fist on the table. "The only reason I haven't is because you're my partner, and I have respect for you."

"Respect," Blake almost scoffed, "That's hardly what I'm seeing right now."

Those were the wrongs words to say, and Yang made that known with her waning hold on her anger.

"Then let me go, and I'll go be disrespectful somewhere else. I didn't ask for anyone's help. I was perfectly fine before you decided to involve yourself in my problems."

Blake was caught between a rock and a hard place. She didn't know what problem Yang was facing and it was dismaying to see that polite words weren't cutting it. Still, the black-clad girl had managed to pick up on something; whatever the problem was, it was clearly something big.

"Yang-"

"Didn't I make myself clear?" Yang rounded on Blake, her eyes dangerous close to changing color. "I. Don't. Wanna. Talk. About. It."

"Why can't I know?" Blake felt more than hurt at Yang's decision to not talk. "I'm your partner."

"Because this isn't a big problem," Yang fumed, "And I don't know what you guys are thinking, but get it through your skulls that I'm not spilling this one. That's it, end of story."

Yang released herself from Blake grip, and even as the katana-wielding girl noticed this, she did nothing to stop her from leaving. Honestly, she didn't know how else to approach this. Blake didn't have Yang's social skills, not by a very long shot.

But that didn't mean she didn't worry. She did worry very much.

Blake didn't want to make the comparison she did, but it seemed all so familiar to her.

The beginning of a friend's descent into something bad.

She prayed that this not be the case.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune and Pyrrha had decided to eat their lunch outside due to the nice weather instead of eating inside the cafeteria. They had chosen one of the outdoor tables and settled down under the rays of the sun. It was mild out, and both of them had changed into their normal attire. It was nice.

Both knight and spartan began to dig into their food immediately. Team JNPR's breakfast was relatively light seeing as Nora had found ways to redistribute the food "fairly." Ren had reminded her that just because she had teammates didn't mean she could take anything from them without permission. Nora had said yes to Ren, most likely to placate him and not vex him further.

"Did I fall asleep in class?" Jaune took a bite out of his sandwich. "I don't think I did."

"No Jaune, you were fine." Pyrrha took a long draw from her water before setting her bottle down. "Although your notes are lacking."

"I know," Jaune sighed. "For the life me, I still can't figure out how you manage to pay attention to Professor Port."

Pyrrha didn't hesitate to answer. "It's all a matter of participation, careful notes, and sitting up straight."

"You make it sound so easy," Jaune commented, "No way it's that easy."

"Practice makes perfect, Jaune," Pyrrha spoke, "I think you know this very well with the training you've been put in."

"I guess." Jaune felt a bit stupid for saying what he did. "I guess I just imagined being a huntsman was less papers and more of everything else."

Pyrrha chortled. "It's understandable. I think we'd all like to be out there and doing good rather than thinking about doing good and writing about doing good and taking notes about others doing good."

Yes, Jaune indeed wanted to do a lot of good. It wasn't by any will of his parents or his sisters that he was helping others. It was his decision to stop being a baby and start being a hero. Perhaps those books and tales of heroes were unrealistic in many ways, but Jaune wanted to believe that there was some merit in the reasons to fight like a hero.

It was simultaneously a selfish and a selfless decision to become a huntsman and force himself to endure the grueling parts in full. He wasn't strong, not in the way Pyrrha was, at least not yet as the spartan would say. They spent many nights training with each other, with Jaune getting better, yet still making mistakes with everything he got better at.

The one thing Jaune could claim to be really good at was being a leader, calling the shots, directing his team, knowing how to use everyone to their fullest, and being strategical and tactical. It still amazed him that he had a team that ultimately trusted him with their lives. Never once had it crossed his mind that he'd lead a team.

Clearly, Professor Ozpin knew something about Jaune that he didn't even know about himself back then.

"I guess I'm not all that bad," Jaune said, "Ozpin made me team leader, and I've been doing good at that."

"Not just good, Jaune. You're a superb leader. Ren, Nora, and I trust you without question. We know when we go to battle, you won't put anyone in a situation that you wouldn't be willing to be in yourself. We know that you want to lead us out alive as close to whole and sane as possible. You exude positive energy, so much so that people look at you as a source of strength."

"I didn't know people think so highly about me. I always thought I was the odd man out in the first-year."

"You're not, Jaune." Pyrrha tightened her grip on his hand. "More than you realize, you've propelled our team to success more times that I can count. The professors see it, the other student sees it, everyone sees it. Even Cardin looks up to you with some modicum of respect."

"That one doesn't really count," Jaune pointed out, "I saved him from an Ursa, and that's his reason for respecting me."

"You place so much stigma on yourself, Jaune. You shouldn't. You have the strength to help others. Don't ever give up that gift."

His partner's words did more than lift Jaune's spirit up. It filled him with a sense of pride and accomplishment. He wasn't just accepting Pyrrha's words because she had said them truthfully, but he accepted them because he actually did believe what she was saying.

Thinking back to his experiences with his teammates, Jaune realized how much he impacted his team. He was their leader, and as such, the responsibility that came with said position had made him into a more responsible person. He had to learn about each of them in his own way.

Ren was the quietest of them all, speaking only when the situation called for it. Nora spoke all the time and her energy levels outclassed every one of their friends, and Pyrrha was more content to let Jaune do more of the deciding, letting her "go with the flow" outlook direct her. The fact that Team JNPR was one of the top performing teams in Beacon was a testament to how well Jaune was handling all of the various personalities of his best friends.

Jaune wasn't just responsible for his teammates. He was also partly responsible for the well-being of his friends as well. If he wasn't doing whatever he could to uplift his friends, then he wasn'tbeing a true friend.

And Pyrrha had said he had the ability to help others successfully.

His mind turned to his earlier conflict about helping Yang. It hadn't been that long ago that he'd been considering whether to help his fellow blonde. The decision seemed almost impossible to make at the time.

Now he knew what to do.

But first, to see to the other half of his team.

"Thanks for the pep talk Pyrrha," Jaune grinned, "Listen, I'm gonna go see what Ren and Nora are up to. Will you be okay without me?"

"I'll manage," Pyrrha responded. "Go on ahead. I imagine Ren will appreciate the help with keeping Nora in check."

"Thanks, partner," Jaune waved appreciatively.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang couldn't deal with this feeling.

She hated, no, despised it. It was the feeling of being unable to do anything, of knowing that someone else had control.

Helplessness. It was something she couldn't power her way through with her usual methods.

Even worse, the situation scared her in so many ways.

She was scared because she actually cared about someone's opinion of her. It wasn't like her to care about anyone else's opinion of her. She had things that most girls strived for: amazing looks,a great personality, popularity, and a great sense of humor. Given all the things that made her who she was, she was the one who did the judging. She looked at guys and girls and formed her own opinions and judgements and those were the kind of things that other people listened to. The blonde brawler was a queen bee when it came to social environments.

And to make her position embarrassing on top of scary, the person whose opinion she cared about was the person that was, according to the social hierarchy, was the person that she should be least concerned about: a dork.

Said dork had horrible flirting skills. A middle school kid could do better. Said dork had sub-par fighting skills. Anyone in the first-year could beat him in a fair fight. Said dork struggled withhis aura and didn't have a semblance. Most everyone in Beacon had at least their aura under control if not their semblance.

She realized then that she'd wandered into the shooting range when she spotted people lined up to practice their aim. Some were good, some were bad, some were decent. That's to be expected.

But being at the shooting range wasn't what sent her emotions into yet another twister of discord.

It was who she spotted that made her reel back. It was the very same person that was causing her to be like this.

Jaune.

Maybe now would be a good time to get in a hit or two on him. Yang really needed to prove a point; she didn't need him to go messing with her head and maybe she ought to get that through his head.

The only thing stopping her from doing this was that Ren and Nora were nearby and Jaune was more or less being a judge for them as far as she could see.

Pyrrha was nowhere to be found.

 _Good,_ Yang thought, _P-money ain't here to see this._

She would wait until Jaune was good and alone. He wasn't that good at shooting anyway, another thing to add to his list of bad qualities.

Yang trained her eyes on the three teammates as they interacted.

"Aw!" Nora pouted. "Missed the triple headshot!"

"Nora," Jaune stepped forward, "You have grenades. All you have to do is make sure they're caught in the explosion, which the dummy was."

"But I wanna be perfect," Nora whined, "I wanna see the dummy to go boom boom on the head!"

"Nora, nobody's ever perfect." Jaune put a hand on her shoulders. "Hell, you guys shoot better than I can now. I wouldn't be able to hit that with my shooting skills."

"He's right, Nora," Ren lowered StormFlower. "Jaune doesn't even have a ranged weapon like we do. Be thankful that you can hit things from far away."

"Think about it like this, Nora." Jaune put out a hand. "When those Grimm in your dreams are standing between you and financial success, know that the mad grenade skills you have are far more important than your shooting accuracy. You can destroy whole packs of Grimm with one shot when most people need lots of shots to kill one."

Nora looked up at Jaune. "Really? You think so, Jaune-Jaune?"

"Of course," Jaune nodded. "Just think of all the pancakes people will give you for killing so many Grimm."

Nora's face began to light up with much enthusiasm at the thought of pancakes in exchange for the extermination of Grimm.

"How about this," Jaune added, "Tomorrow morning, I'll make you my pancake recipe from home."

"With extra syrup? Lots of butter? Tons of fruit?" Nora's mouth already felt watery at the prospect of pancakes, especially when it came to her leader's recipe.

"Anything for my resident bomber." Jaune was positively beaming. "Just promise me you won't get too bogged down about this misfire."

"You got it, fearless leader," Nora saluted crisply. "Nora Valkyrie, your local friendly neighborhood bomber will do her best to please! Now to get food that's not nearly as good as pancakes, but still good!"

Nora then began to skip happily out of the shooting range. She spotted Yang but didn't notice that the buxom blonde was eavesdropping on the three members of team JNPR.

"Hi, Yang!" Nora said quickly before skipping past her. "Did you know that Jaune makes the best cheerer-uper?"

 _Yes,_ she answered mentally, _I just completely forgot about it because I was too deep in my own personal shit to remember that being there for others is what he does best._

Externally, she did her best to greet Nora with her trademark smile, though the boxer wasn't sure it came out as it normally did. She then watched Jaune and Ren as the two of them carried out their own conversation.

All of her previous negativity evaporated almost instantly in the short time watching Jaune interact with his team. It wasn't something she had ever taken the time to notice before. It seemed that the blond knight was very much involved with his teammates as a team leader, just as Ruby was involved as team leader with Team RWBY.

Was that really surprising though? She had seen Jaune when he was helping others. He had helped her in his own way. He'd reminded her that even if she was once pathetic and weak and helpless, she was here now, and that proved she was strong. Of course it would make sense that with that kind spirit he possessed, he did his best to keep his team's spirit up.

How could she completely dump on Jaune and treat him so harshly by really shallow and superficial standards? He was doing the right thing, something that she couldn't always claim that she'd done nearly as well as he did.

She took a breath through her nose and then breathed it out her mouth. She needed to get this out of her head and into words.

Yang didn't even bother to act normal as she approached the two boys. They both noticed her and Ren turned to Jaune again.

"I'd better go make sure Nora doesn't tear up the cafeteria." Ren made his way to the exit. "I'll see if Pyrrha's around."

"Sure thing, Ren," Jaune shouted. "But Nora first!"

The door closed and that left them alone.

"Jaune," Yang began, "I-"

"Something's wrong." He stepped closer. "I know."

"That obvious?" Yang chuckled weakly, "I'm losing my game here."

"Seriously though," Jaune tilted his head left, "What's going on? You seemed off in Professor Port's class."

Her fear began to grip her again, and that made her turn her head to the side in an attempt to stay away from his eyes. If he got ahold of her eyes, she knew that it would be difficult to break away from them.

"Yang, please, if there's anything I can do to help, just ask. You're my friend, and I want to help you."

She closed her eyes and scrunched them tightly for a moment, then she stepped up and embraced him without saying anything further. She placed her cheek against her shoulders, and her hands against his back. Try as she might, Yang couldn't find it in herself to fault Jaune for anything. He was so innocent that it made her jealous that he could get away with it.

Jaune too wrapped Yang up in his own arms. His presence did more than just calm her nerves. She could feel his heartbeat, calm and steady. She could feel his current mood, calm and serene. She could feel his powerful aura presence, pure and virtuous.

If anyone saw the two blondes hugging each other, they didn't care to announce it nor would they dare to spread it around, not unless they wanted to deal with Yang and her fists.

"Jaune," Yang lifted her head to stare him dead in the eyes, "Do you...why did you choose to be my friend?"

Jaune frowned in confusion. "Yang?"

She detached herself from him. "Back when I first offered to be your friend, why'd you accept it? I mean, you've already got your team, and they're your best friends. Nora absolutely adores you like a brother. Ren's like the brother you never had. They would follow you to the ends of Remnant. Pyrrha would do just about anything for you, and I do mean anything."

"Yang...what's this about?" Jaune took her hand.

She looked down at their joined hands. "Why did you accept my friendship after the way I treated you? You already had the best friends possible. You have the best partner ever. Why would you want to be friends with someone like me?"

"Yang, what-" Jaune wouldn't get the chance to speak as Yang continued to ramble.

"Why do you want me when you've got the best?" Yang shoved his hand away. "I can't give you what your team gives you."

"Yang-"

"It might be better for you if you didn't attach yourself to me. You know what I'm like and you know what comes with being my friend."

"STOP!"

Yang jolted at his shout. She looked up to him in shame; his face held only momentary anger before it receded into a calm expression.

His head shifted to look around her. "Do you mind? We're having a moment here."

Jaune's voice gave away he was a little more than annoyed with people watching them like a really dramatic soap opera. What that voice also carried was a very serious undertone, like a threat. Apparently she wasn't the only one that felt it as people seemed to hurry and leave the two be.

With them alone, Jaune turned back to Yang. "Yang, do you know why I wanted to become your friend?"

She shook her head.

"I became your friend because of the reasons you said."

Yang's head shot up. "...what?"

"You said that you don't give me what my team gives me as a friend," Jaune reiterated, "That's true, you don't give me what they give me, and that's exactly why I'm your friend."

"That doesn't make sense," Yang exclaimed.

"If you were exactly like my teammates, then we'd already be friends. The fact is, you aren't Pyrrha, Ren, or Nora. You're you, Yang. Yes, you don't give me what my team gives me, but you give me what they can't give me."

"Like what?" Yang folded her arms. "What do I have that Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora don't have?"

"Pyrrha has always trained me to be the best, and I'm forever grateful." It was now Jaune's turn to stare at the ground. "But sometimes I wonder why she chose me. She could've chosen anyone in the entire first-year. She chose me because I didn't know who she was. I didn't idolize her or worship her. I saw her as person, a normal person."

Yang wasn't quite sure what to make of Jaune's words. He sounded rather divided about what he was saying.

"So I ask myself what would have happened if I had known? Would she have disregarded me and pushed me away? Would we never have been friends if I did what everyone else did: fawn over her?"

Truly, it was strange to hear Jaune speak of Pyrrha like this. It sounded like he didn't wish to think of the spartan in the way he explained it, but it was clear this wasn't the first time.

"With Ren, I do the talking, he does the agreeing. I can't recall an instance where he said no outright. That's simple enough. Nora, she's something else entirely. Dealing with her is like dealing with a child, but I suppose that's why I like her a lot."

"Yeah…" Yang's response couldn't be any more lame.

"With you Yang," Jaune answered. "I'd like to think we became friends because we wanted to. No drama, no unnecessary antics, just to see where it goes."

Yang looked unsatisfied. "That's it? Just to see where it goes?"

"Do you need a reason for me to be your friend other than that," Jaune asked, "I didn't become your friend for the sake of you having something I wanted. I became your friend because I thought another friend would be a good thing."

Just like that?

How could he claim that is was as simple as that? People didn't become friends just to do it. Friends shared common interests. Friends talked with each other a lot. Friends shared their mutual pains. Friends helped each other when they needed to.

Then Yang paused in thought. They both had mad dancing skills. They had done a lot of talking. They had spilled to each other extremely personal details. They both had sought each other out when help was needed or wanted.

Or both.

All this time Yang had been thinking that their relationship had to stem from a common interest or perhaps something in common the two of them shared. Yes, they did have both of those things, but clearly Jaune wasn't thinking of their friendship like Yang was.

And she should've seen that thinking coming from him. Perhaps that was the reason why he mattered so much to her. He wasn't going to abandon their friendship at the first sign of trouble.

He wasn't going to abandon her because he'd probably had few friends in life before Beacon.

The realization made her feel dumb. How could she not see this before?

"I…" She was a complete loss for words. "I…"

"If you're worried that I'm going to get rid of you because of really stupid things like the things you do wrong, then don't. I'd be willing to put up with any friend's flaws because they're what make you who you are. Just look at Nora."

Yang now felt incredibly stupid in addition to feeling relieved. She would need to add unbearably accepting to the list of things to describe Jaune. How was it that he could say something like that and mean it?

"Thanks, Jaune. I really needed that." She fidgeted a bit.

"It's what I do best." Jaune looked happy. "Look out for my friends."

She looked into his eyes, and saw only positive energy. It was just so undeniably heart-warming.

With a smile of her own, she approached Jaune and allowed her lips to softly meet his own. Their eyes closed for a moment, neither of them trying to touch each other's body. Just lip against lip.

He separated first. "Well then. That happened."

He was very much flustered.

Yang shook her head in amusement. "You doing anything now?"

"Well, for starters," Jaune looked at his watch. "I think Professor Oobleck's class starts in five minutes. To add to that, we don't have Ruby's semblance to help us. So we're going to be late."

Yang froze. "Oh. Well… shit."

* * *

 **Hello my readers. It's been almost a month since the last update, and I apologize for the wait. What can I say? A combination of school, work, and life has been the reasons for this delay. Life is awesome!**

 **Yang is moody? So OOC right? Well sure, isn't everyone at one point or another OOC? What fun is it when you don't see some variety in a character? Yang's being real out of it right now without one of her ar** **ms. So there you go.**

 **I made a Grimm up. I hope nobody gripes about that, because it would be a pointless gripe. There have to be more Grimm than we've seen thus far.**

 **Progress on this story is slow as I've had to take time to sit down and think over the direction real carefully. It's going to be a sort of back and forth game between Yang and Jaune as they slowly get to know each other better. They'll find problems and have to deal with them, not all of them necessarily critical.**

 **So what did you guys think about this chapter? Good? Bad? Meh? Feedback and criticism is appreciated. I'm sorry if I get back to your reviews late. It's been a busy month.**

 **And a final thing. Anyone who loves the Marvel Cinematic Universe should consider going to my profile page and voting for a RWBY team with Marvel heroes. Remember, if you do vote, vote for you FOUR favorite characters.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"Passion is momentary. Love is enduring."**_

 **John Wooden**

 **Peace!**


	7. Ch 7: It's Been Xiao Long

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 7: It's Been Xiao Long

 **Beacon Academy**

"Mr. Arc, Ms. Xiao Long." Dr. Oobleck didn't look to them as they entered the classroom. "Late, both of you."

Both blondes not only faced their professor but the entire class. All eyes turned to meet the two blondes as they stood in the doorway. Their attempt to get in unnoticed had failed, though not for lack of trying. Now being watched by so many pairs of eyes felt discomforting, even to Yang who was used to attention. She knew that more than a few people were going to start getting the wrong idea.

"Sorry, Dr. Oobleck," Jaune apologized, "It won't happen again."

"Just the same," the huntsman finally looked the two of them in the eye, "Both of you will see me after class.

Yang and Jaune groaned, but no one else made a sound, and that made the two of them more audible to their professor.

"Additional readings for both of you." He sipped on his cup again. "Perhaps this will motivate you not to be late again and to not complain about it. Need I remind you that I expect all my students to be on time for class? Now to your seats. Hustle!"

That effectively shut them up and they took the only seats that were left to them, which were, to their dismay, far away from their teammates. The class settled back into the discussion that was going on prior to the interruption. Yang and Jaune got out their materials and got into the right mindset for listening to their rapid-talking teacher.

With Dr. Oobleck, they had the opposite problem when compared to Professor Port. They paid attention...as best they could given the man's degree of hyper movement and hyper speech. Generally speaking, whatever a student couldn't get from the lectures in class they had to finish themselves in their own studying time or get a friend or fellow classmate to get the notes back. Jaune would have less difficulty with that than Yang. Both Pyrrha and Blake were top performers, but Blake didn't cave into her partner's requests as easily as Pyrrha did.

Normally, both blondes would be immediately on their notes and trying to pay attention. Today though, both Yang and Jaune weren't exactly in prime note-taking form. For some reason it felt more burdensome. Undoubtedly, they were going to be taking more notes after class and then figuring out just how useful certain parts were for later use. At the rate they were going, they were going to be doing at least another hour of reading if not more. Another thing to consider was that the two of them had more work for being late. Dr. Oobleck didn't make false promises.

Still, even with the unpleasant thought of extra work, Yang was feeling more confident in herself now more than ever. She felt like she could take on the whole world right now. It felt so good to be back to her old self. That funk she had been dealing with earlier today was something she wanted to forget about. For now, she carried no reservations about her relationship with Jaune. They were friends, and they were going to keep being friends. A real boy-friend who wasn't constantly looking at her assets when she wasn't looking.

Not that it mattered if he did look. He'd already seen her completely bare and given what had been established in their friendship, she honestly didn't mind if Jaune occasionally stared. In fact, whenever they weren't in an intense moment, he didn't stare at her; he just looked to her as his friend, something that Yang appreciated very much. Yet she couldn't deny a certain feeling of disappointment that Jaune didn't seem to stare at her outside of their intimate moments.

Looking at Jaune to her left, she saw him diligently taking notes all the while listening to Oobleck. This was certainly a different Jaune in class now. Whenever he was called on, he did better in answering questions. As a result, people started thinking better of Jaune. Some even began to see him as more of a challenge in single combat.

When talking about team battles, there was no debate. JNPR dominated in team battles the most. All teams expected a difficult fight from Team JNPR. Ren was the aura expect, Nora was the powerhouse, Pyrrha was their in-house juggernaut, and Jaune was their strategist. As a result, most teams tried to take him out first. That might've been easier the first semester, but discounting his teammates protecting him, Jaune had more skill thanks to Pyrrha's training.

Not to mention the fact that said training had done wonders to add to his physique. He still was nowhere near the level that some of the guys in the first-year were, but he was assuredly pleasing to look at. She couldn't imagine Jaune as anything other than lithe. It wouldn't be the same Jaune in her mind.

She preferred her boy toy the way he was now.

Yes, she had called him her boy toy, because in a way, that was sort of the role he played. Friends with benefits was the shared term they both used, but why stop there? Why not come up with some more fun terms to describe their relationship? They weren't dating, and they didn't like-like each other as Nora would put it.

So when would be the next time? They hadn't exactly talked about this in detail, and when they'd first done it, it was a "in the heat" sort of moment. The second time was the same thing: unexpected, but not unwelcome. That little rendezvous in the library? Also a spur of the moment. They had this habit of getting into the mood almost with the snap of a finger. That wouldn't be good if said mood struck them both at really inopportune times.

So the first thing to talk to Jaune about once they were alone were the exact rules that went along with the benefits. That way they could break it off when they felt it was the right time. Yang knew for sure that they weren't going to break away due to a lack of satisfaction.

And speaking of satisfaction, how did Jaune do it? Shouldn't he have been something of a major disappointment? Maybe the first time should've been a letdown? Why wasn't it? How did the blond knight make it so good?

She would find that out too when they talked.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune felt that this class might very well be the death of him one day. It seemed that it was intent on hounding him at every turn possible. He didn't mean to slack off or procrastinate when it came to schoolwork, but certain events in his life had always distracted him from his work in and out of class. For history in particular, that always was the case. First that identity crisis the preceding semester, now his relationship with Yang; it was not fun to have to add more work to his mental questionings.

At least there was a silver lining to the extra homework that Oobleck was going to assign: Yang would be there to help him; he hoped that she was with him. She had a much easier time taking notes and doing well in classes than he did. He also had it on good authority from Ruby as well as from listening in on their conversations that Yang didn't care much for homework, and when observing her character, it was easy to connect the dots.

Regardless, it would give Jaune a chance to see exactly how Yang worked. As much as he did agree with Ruby, the fact was that nobody at Beacon Academy was accepted into Beacon with horrible grades, so Yang had to be doing at least decent work if nothing else. She did get here on her own merit while he had to lie.

No, not that again. He promised himself that he would move past that. Pyrrha had made him promise to never let that get to him again. He was here now, and what he did with the opportunity given to him was what mattered now. What happened in the past stayed in the past. No turning back.

Jaune's eyes shifted over to Yang's notes, noticing that she had more down than he did. Looking back to his own notes, which was noticeably shorter, he felt slightly disappointed in himself. He should be taking better notes than what he was doing now. It wasn't right to slack off because he wasn't in the right mood. Remnant didn't stop for anyone, and if he didn't get himself focused, he'd have more to worry about than he wanted or needed.

He should be always on top of his game. He had Pyrrha Nikos, the student with the best standings in the first-year grade-wise in all classes. She was tutoring him for Oum's sake, investing her own time willingly to help him. She could be doing better things with her time and she chose to help him.

He needed to repay her efforts by getting himself out of the funk and back into the arena. He came here to be a huntsman, and that's what he intended to do. Whatever it took to accomplish it, he would do it. This wasn't the first time

Taking a deep breath, Jaune recollected all of his previous thoughts. _Stop bellyaching. There are people who are looking to you to be at your best._

Jaune had many demons from his past that still persisted with him into Beacon. Although he had the love of his family, he didn't have the love of friends. There were few people in his life before Beacon that he called friend. Like he mentioned to Yang, his sisters were protective of him, part of the reason he needed to leave home. When he talked about becoming a huntsman, they probably thought he would be more likely to cut a limb off before he killed a Grimm. It would take more than a few months of huntsman training for the constant feeling of inadequacy he'd felt in himself for many years to ebb away.

Yang on the other hand? She was invariably confident in herself, always so certain in her every move, and consistently a showboat, the things he wasn't. Being friends with the blonde beauty gave him a small idea of what it was like to be at the center of attention, though he was unconditionally sure that he preferred to let Yang be the main attraction. Unlike some people, Jaune felt that as long as he and his teams did well with grades and generally made a positive influence at Beacon, it didn't matter how popular they were.

That didn't stop Jaune from considering how his life would be different if he had Yang levels of confidence in himself. Would he be taken more seriously? Would other students respect him more? Would he feel better about himself overall?

No.

Jaune found that for all of the things wrong with himself that he was fully aware of, he didn't wish to be anyone else either. Not now. Not ever. It just wouldn't be right.

Taking his own advice that he had conveyed to Yang earlier, Jaune recalled that no matter how much he wished he could be like Yang, he was glad to be his own person. Like Yang had said before, he cared for the people he called friends. He didn't carry much of an ego. He was honest and exposed. To her, that made him worthy enough to be called a friend. If those were what made him her friend, then surely he couldn't be as useless of a person as he thought of himself time and time again.

He then realized he was still in the classroom and he'd stopped writing notes altogether. Monty-dammit, when was he going to learn to stop deliberating in the middle of class?

"Mr. Arc," Oobleck's voice could be heard. "What is the answer to the question?"

Jaune stared at the professor, his face betraying his true feelings.

 _Monty-dammit. Not again!_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Once again they had another meal together.

Jaune felt like burying himself in a hole and never crawling out of it. Once again, he'd made himself look rather stupid in front of the class by not paying attention. As usual when he couldn't answer a question, it was because he didn't even know the question. He was that deep in thought as Oobleck lectured on.

As a result, Dr. Oobleck saw fit to make sure that Jaune got that extra assignment. Predictably, Yang too received the same assignment. They were to write an essay about the history of dust use and detail at least three different prominent people in Remnant's history who had advanced mankind's understanding of dust.

Yang wasn't pleased with having to spend her evening working on an essay, but she wasn't exactly complaining like there was no tomorrow either. To the rest of team RWBY, it was absurd for their resident brawler to be this indifferent about the assignment. Yang had always made it clear where she stood in terms of school work. For her to even show meager interest, it was… chilling.

Jaune wasn't happy about the work either, but somehow, it was just what everyone expected from him. He had this tendency to learn lessons the hard way. Sometimes, the hard way didn't stick when it happened once. It had to happen numerous times before the effects were ingrained into his mind.

Pyrrha fussed over Jaune like she did when he was in this sort of situation. And naturally, Jaune was struggling to assure her that it wasn't the end of the world. For one thing, this wasn't Cardin Winchester he had to work with. This was Yang Xiao Long he had to deal with, a trusted friend.

"Are you sure that you two won't need help?" Still the spartan was enduring in her fretting over Jaune. "You've never worked well under stress."

"Pyrrha." Jaune grabbed her by the shoulders. "I promise on my honor as an Arc, and on the honor of Crocea Mors, that I will be fine. Your worrying is appreciated, but not necessary. Don't you trust me to do my work?"

"No, it's not that," Pyrrha refused instantly, "It's just that… I've always been there to help you with assignments."

"And you've done the best job." Jaune continued eye contact with his partner. "But this assignment is for me and Yang. Between the two of us, I'm sure we'll find some things to work with."

Pyrrha looked crushed by Jaune not accepting her help. The invincible girl always wanted to spend as much time with the blond knight as she possible could. Even if he hadn't rejected her out of any sort of negative means, she still didn't like when he did it, even if he want to do things himself.

"If you say so." She sighed in acceptance. "I'm sorry for doubting you, Jaune. I just... I didn't want a repeat of last semester."

"I get it," Jaune nodded, "But I've grown up, gotten better, matured. You should know that better than anyone. You're my partner."

Ruby leaned in closer so she could listen. It was like watching a movie when Pyrrha and Jaune were having a moment. It shouldn't be right to find entertainment in this serious topic. Weiss could only sigh and hope that the two of them would be okay. She like Pyrrha and she didn't get annoyed at Jaune anymore. They were good for each other. Blake hid behind her book, but somehow managed to watch them like a fox. To anyone else, she was just reading as usual.

And Yang?

She kept her cool and surprisingly didn't feel any sort of tension seeing Jaune and Pyrrha have their moment. Right now was the time to let friends be friends and go about the normal routine and quirks and other odd things they did as friends. She and Jaune would have time later when they got to their additional homework. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Yang did pity Pyrrha in some manner.

Oobleck hadn't been completely merciless; they were to turn in the assignment not the next class, but the following one. She could only guess that they were going to be helping each other with the research portion. Then they would separate to do their own work. Yang didn't expect to be reading sources for long. She never read the entire source when she used one; she read only what was necessary, then implementing it into her work as necessary.

"So what were you two doing anyway that made you late?" Blake voiced the question first. "I know you, Yang. You usually aren't late, not unless it's for a good reason."

"Same for you, Jaune," Ruby pointed to him, "You may still suck at work-"

"Ruby," Jaune griped, "Really?"

"But you're never late. I know you, and you're never late," Ruby finished, ignoring her fellow team leader. "So spill."

"Target practice," Yang burst out with her suggestion. "Or at least I was doing target practice. Jaune was there for moral support."

"What she said." Jaune couldn't find a better thing to say.

"Nothing else happened?" Nora sudden entrance into the conversation was strange. "Nothing at all?"

"Nora?" Jaune had a feeling that his teammate was treading a very fine line. "What are you getting at?"

"You know damn well what I mean!" Nora looked very intimidating right now. "You're not that dumb, Jaune!"

Her implication clicked in everyone's mind. All heads turned to the table, each with their own expression, but all sharing a common feature: questioning. At this turn of events, Yang and Jaune looked to each other.

Then the two of them laughed. That only made their friends more befuddled.

"What's so funny?" Weiss looked cross. "This is no laughing matter."

"Well it is when it can't be true," Yang struggled to take a breath, "Can you imagine? Us?"

"Pssssh," Jaune waved her off, "As if. Nora, whatever happened to not being together-together. Need I remind you?"

"Well… this is different!" Nora looked flushed, but still fiery. "We've been friends for years! You two are just becoming friends now!"

While Jaune was finding Nora's implication truly funny, he was also afraid. There were more and more moments when he and Yang were together that their friends were becoming aware of. If they weren't beginning to question the relationship between the two blondes, they were now. This relationship was supposed to be between him and Yang. In a way, it felt like he was keeping a dirty secret from them. Why Nora was suddenly so interested by what they were doing, Jaune had no idea.

Yang wasn't feeling under the gun, but the last thing she wanted was for them to be exposed now, because then there wouldn't be any peace for her and Jaune. Without a committed relationship to go with their physical intimacy, there was no telling what the reception from their friends would be. Whether good or bad, it wouldn't be the same with them knowing. There would almost definitely be someone poking their nose in their business.

"Nora," Jaune reined in his own laughter and thoughts, "Why does it have to be romantic? I'm not in love with you, and you're my friend, and we spend a lot of time together."

"That's also different," Nora argued, "We're teammates. We always spend time together. That's a given. You two though…"

"Ugh." Yang banged her head against the table, "Will she ever stop? It was funny a moment ago. Now it's just getting on my nerves."

"But she does bring up a point," Pyrrha chimed in, "You two have been spending an awful lot of time together recently."

"Not you too Pyrrha!" Jaune didn't want to deal with this now. "What's with everyone thinking we're in a relationship. Love at first sight doesn't exist. Even I know that!"

"That depends." Blake finally broke into the conversation. "For some, it exists. Just because we don't experience it doesn't mean others can't."

That comment was meant to simply be harmless information, food for thought so that they all would stop laying it on Jaune and Yang. However, it only served to make a bad situation worse.

"So did you fall in love at first sight?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby!" Yang looked appalled. "I don't fall in love. Period."

"You're freaking out," Weiss pointed out, "Denial is often a sign of feelings. And you didn't exactly deny Ruby's question."

"You would use that against me," Yang shot back, "And denial hiding feelings? That only comes from cheesy romance novels. No offense, Blake."

"None taken," Blake responded nonchalantly, her eyes flickering back to her book in her hands.

"Look, guys," Jaune pleaded, "Whatever happened to a guy and a girl being friends? Is that not a thing anymore?"

"We're just curious," Ren interjected with his words, "I guess we're all confused by this sudden bond between you two. Just days ago, you two were more like acquaintances than friends. Given that it's only been a few days…"

"And adding to the fact that you two are alone a lot of that time," Nora soundly interrupted Ren, "It seems only reasonable that we question what you two are doing in that alone time."

"That does it," Yang stood up, "We don't need to hear this. Come on Jaune, we got an essay to work on."

Jaune never got a chance to agree with her as she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the cafeteria. Their teammates weren't the only ones who had noticed either. Their whole discussion was rather intense, enough that it was hard to not notice.

"So what do you guys think?" Ruby's head whirled to each of her friends. "Something's up?"

"Nah," Nora smiled, "But it was fun to mess with them! Should've taken a video of it so we could hold it over them!"

"You know," Pyrrha put down her fork, "We could've been a little less like interrogators. They were clearly trying to make a point and we pushed them."

"This coming from you?" Blake's eyes watched the spartan, "Surely you're not completely happy with this new friendship."

"It's Jaune's decision who he wants as his friend," Pyrrha declared, "I can't be there for him all the time."

"Even though you want to be," Nora giggled lightly, "We know."

Pyrrha turned her head sharply, trying to stop her friends from seeing her blush, but also her hurt face. She wouldn't admit it even to herself, but there was a small feeling of dread in her entire being. Yang had only recently been investing time in Jaune and it seemed she was getting so much for her trouble. Jaune too was receiving the same sort of treatment. Why did it look like they were becoming friends with ease?

Were her initial times with Jaune this easy? She didn't recall any real hassle, but neither did she recall him being this steady either. Maybe it was because his time with actual friends had bolstered his confidence.

And strangely enough, Yang looked like she'd taken on a bit of Jaune's nervousness. Switching personalities. Just what was going on?

Of course even with her head turned, everyone knew that Pyrrha was indeed hurt by Yang spending time with Jaune, even if their relationship was only in the beginning stages of friendship.

Pyrrha didn't like it when there were things that were out of her control, especially when it came to Jaune.

He was her first friend, and she wanted him as more than that.

"Well," Ruby shrugged, "It's like they said: just friends. What's the worst thing that two friend can do?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

A red-eyed Yang always put fear into the eyes of Beacon students. Her temper in battle was becoming the stuff of legends. As such, when they did see her like this, they swiftly cleared the way for her. Seeing Jaune Arc in her vice-like grip, they felt pity for him, even giving him a few glances.

The blond knight knew she wasn't mad at him, but that didn't put his mind at ease. She was still angry. Her being mad was a potential recipe for disaster in all cases. It wasn't unheard of for Yang to do completely outrageous things in this less than stable state.

And speaking of the cause of her anger, what was that all about? One moment, their conversation seemed to be going okay, and then it had taken a very precarious turn. Out of the six of them that could have instigated such a turn of words, Nora being the one felt unfounded by one and expected by the other.

Yang couldn't find a plausible reason that Nora would ask about such a thing. Surely the bubbly bomber's relationship with Ren had taught her not to jump to the conclusion of being together-together with Jaune.

Jaune, knowing Nora more than Yang, understood his teammate. That understanding also came with a very unsavory new thought. Although Ren and Nora were best friends, sometimes Nora did begin to wonder if there should be more between her and Ren. If Jaune had to guess, Nora likely saw herself and Ren and in Yang and Jaune.

With his own conclusion, that made Jaune very much tense. As much as Nora was a scatterbrained girl, she did have her moments of intelligence. If she was thinking the same way that he was, no matter how slim the chance, Jaune didn't want to entertain the thought that he might've done something really life-changing. Not that this "friends with benefits" thing wasn't life changing, but…

He shook his head; thinking too much is what led to what he didn't want and what he wasn't ready for. Stop thinking about it so much and there wasn't a problem. He'd had sex with Yang, and apparently, she felt him worthy enough to continue doing so. Who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

Yang's grip tightened on his wrist, and he stifled a cry of pain. Damn did this girl have a strong grip.

"Yang," Jaune pleaded, "Not so tight."

The buxom beauty didn't heed his words at all. She didn't make a move that indicated she'd even heard him. She just blazed a path to the library, glaring at anyone who dared to look at her or Jaune the wrong way.

"Yang," Jaune tried again, "Remnant to Yang?"

"We're almost there," Yang fumed, "So shut up until we're there."

That was the end of that, so Jaune endured her grip for a few more minutes before the two of them reached the library. The relatively quiet atmosphere was broken only by their footsteps. Here though, few people cared to look up from their studies and notice them. That was good.

Yang led Jaune to a spot where there was little to no activity. If he wasn't worried before, he sure was now. He was all alone, with no one to help him deal with her. She didn't release him from her grasp, but instead, she turned to face him, her eyes still burning crimson. He bit his lips, waiting for whatever she was going to do to him. He just hoped that it was quick so they could get to work.

She roughly grabbed his head between her hands and locked lips with him. His bewilderment lasted a few seconds before he responded too. Their pace wasn't slow and soft; it was fast and furious. She pressed herself into him, leaving no room between them. His hands went up to pull her into him more.

From worried to aggressive in one single move. Jaune couldn't quite place how this transformation occurred. Just moments ago, he was more worried about his own safety. He was no match for Yang, not as he was now. Now, as they went at each other, he felt pure, unadulterated desire welling up within him. In any other setting, he might not be so bold in his movements, so firm in his grip, so sure of himself. Here in this setting, he was on equal grounds with her.

She moved with more animalistic and frenzied movements than experienced ones. But even with their shared lack of experience, it didn't take away from what they were doing. There wasn't a need to speak about what to do or how to do it. If they liked it, they made it clear through moaning. If they didn't like it, they'd find another way. There were no expectations because there was nothing prior from which to judge now.

Jaune found the strength in him to lift her up, her legs wrapping around his waist, and he put her back to the wall, pushing to meet her demanding lips. They were making a considerable amount of noise, and if they weren't careful, they were going to be spotted.

For the first time since they started ravishing each other, they separated, their breathing heavy. Yang's grip on his head was still there, and if Jaune thought so himself, even tighter now. His response was to grit his teeth and stare her in the eyes.

"Now?" Jaune voiced a question, but it should've been a statement.

Yang was quick to make it a definite statement. "Now."

Even if he did want to stop, which he didn't, then he'd have to escape her unbreakable grip on him. That would be very probable seeing as she had no intention of releasing him, not until he did what she wanted.

He wasn't quite sure if he should be mad at his friends or grateful to them at this moment. He'd figure it out later once he was finished here.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Blake was convinced now more than ever that Jaune and Yang were hiding something. Whether the others thought so or not remained to be seen. For now, what she had planned only needed one other person to be involved; the others were irrelevant.

She only cared for one: her partner and her best friend. Who, along with Nora, were the resident joy-bringers among the eight friends.

And in the course of a few days, she had forged a strong relationship with Jaune Arc, the less than perfect lunkheaded dunce. It would appear that it all happened without explanation, without cause and without reason. She didn't believe that things like this simply just happened.

She may not be outgoing like her partner, but she did like to think she knew a thing or two about really personal relationships. In the months of knowing and sharing experiences with Yang, she knew one thing for certain: Yang made fun of everyone, friend or not. That's just the territory that came with being friends with the blonde girl. It wasn't anything like being close to Adam. And knowing this, she knew not to judge Yang from her previous experience.

Even if their attitudes were quite different, she did enjoy Yang's company. She enjoyed the company of all of Team RWBY. They made her more hopeful, and she wouldn't admit it yet, but she wanted more of that feeling.

She knew Yang well, but she didn't know Jaune well. Not well enough. She'd barely spoken a word to him in the previous semester and even now only barely acknowledged him. Neither chose to seek each other out, and she knew it wasn't from any personal dislike. They just never found a reason to talk. He seemed to be a good guy, and he didn't really care about the differences between Human and Faunus.

She didn't want to find a reason to dislike him now, but his relationship with Yang had shifted drastically enough for her to be at least suspicious. It wasn't like close friendships were forged this fast. At least not in her opinion and experience.

The problem was that Blake wanted to ask through indirect means. Jaune and Yang were hiding something, and they weren't going to let them all in on whatever they didn't want getting out, and that was why she here at Team JNPR's door. She knocked three times, then waited patiently for someone to answer.

The door opened. "Pyrrha."

The spartan raised an eyebrow. "Blake. What brings you here?"

Blake looked to her left and right. "Can we talk? I know this is highly unusual, but I need your help with something."

"I think I can guess what." Pyrrha let out a breath. "How about we talk somewhere private. Ren! Nora! I'll be back in a bit!"

"K!" Nora's voice was distinct.

"Got it." Ren sounded indifferent. "We'll be here."

Pyrrha closed the door, then nodded to Blake that she was ready. Even as the two of them started walking the halls, they were already talking.

"So Yang and Jaune." Blake paused to think on her words. That came out wrong. "I mean, them being friends now. I think there's more to it."

"I have the same suspicion." Pyrrha sounded resigned. "But we don't even have any sort of proof or evidence. We only have our own instincts."

"We're their partners." Blake maneuvered her body so that another student could get past them. "We know them better than anyone else. It stands to reason our friends will listen."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Pyrrha shrugged, "I just wish I knew if my intuition was actually right."

"That's what I'm trying to work out, Pyrrha. We won't get anything from asking them directly. Our little joke at dinner? That's proof."

"So what do you think we should do, Blake?"

They stepped outside of their dorm building to the warm sun and the breeze. Students were scattered all across campus, doing homework, conversing, whatever really. Just a normal day at Beacon.

Well, almost a normal day.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you." Blake and Pyrrha continued to walk down the pathway. "We need to at least make sure that everything's okay. You care about Jaune so much. Pretty much everything he does concerns you. You must be worried to some degree."

"Yes." Pyrrha looked to the ground. "I have always worried for Jaune."

"Then surely you can see why I'm trying to recruit you," Blake exclaimed, "When people hide things from their friends, there's a reason for it."

"Jaune would have no reason to hide anything unless he felt it would embarrass him." Pyrrha let her idea pop out. "That's the only reason he'd hide something at all."

"And Yang wouldn't hide something unless it's important. Really important." Blake bit her lips lightly. "Otherwise she'd just tell everyone without batting an eyelash."

"They must think that we wouldn't like it." Both of them echoed the same words. They looked to each other.

If there was any doubt in their mind about continuing this investigation, there wasn't now. If Jaune and Yang were afraid because of any perceived consequences, then why they were hiding was much easier to understand. What they were hiding still wasn't any clearer than if there was a deity who created Remnant.

"So we agree," Pyrrha said, "We're doing this only to help our friends. Nothing else."

"Yeah," Blake replied, "Nothing else. Whatever we find, we promise not to jump to any conclusions, not until we hear what they have to say."

"Yes, of course," Pyrrha responded, "I just want to make sure Jaune's alright."

"I want the same for Yang. So, deal?"

"Deal." They shook hands. They had their work cut out for them.

"How soon do you want to start," Blake asked, "You got stuff to do, and so do I."

"No time like the present," Pyrrha suggested, "We're here now, unless you've got something planned right now."

"Not really."

"Then let us begin."

* * *

 **My sincerest apologies for the long delay. "Summer vacation" is a very deceiving time. I get busy doing so many things that story-writing is hard with all the stuff going on right now.**

 **And speaking of writing, I've decided that I've got enough votes for my MCU/RWBY crossover. If you haven't seen the results, the top eight are in this order: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord, Thor, and Ant-Man. Right now, I need to compile some more notes on how I aim to make this a reality. Look for more details soon.**

 **If you haven't seen Captain America: Civil War, all I have to say is Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and the feels. Go see it. You won't regret it.**

 **In terms of story progress, it's time to step up the game a bit. I've given you three days of characters thinking and talking. Something big needs to happen sooner or later. That part I'm working on right now. Just gotta think hard.**

 **So what do you guys think of the chapter? Good? Bad? Meh? Leave a review with your opinion. Do you guys like the slow pace? Do you guys prefer something really gut-wrenching? Less dialogue and internal thoughts? Do you guys think this story is actually progressing? Your reviews can influence this story. You just have to speak up.**

 **Thanks for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and remember:**

 ** _"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."_**

 **Dr. Seuss**

 **Peace!**


	8. Ch 8: I Ain't a Hollaback Girl

Beta-readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 8: I Ain't a Hollaback Girl

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Library**

Yang, with her feet propped up on the table, attended to the business at hand.

She was trying to fix her hair as best as she could. It was hard work keeping her hair in pristine condition all the time, but she managed in spite of all the work she had to do on it.

On her lap sat her scroll, its screen covered with various windows and popups. On the desk, there were various books and journals, all of them ultimately related to the subject of dust. Even with the initial… distraction, both she and Jaune had gotten a pretty good foothold on their research. She felt that she was getting close to actually being done with reading. She had already gone through five books, two articles, four scholarly journals, and one periodical. That would have to be enough.

Jaune was nearby, and he was probably getting close to finished with his research as well. His head moved rapidly between his sources and his notepad where many notes were scribbled furiously. Watching him work, a sense of envy came over her. She could never be as studious as he was now, not at homework, and for that matter not at school.

It was getting late and soon both of them would have to get back to their dorms and get some sleep. This was going to be the last chance to talk about where they stood.

"So where did Jaune Arc learn to be so gratifying?" Yang kept her eyes on him.

Jaune didn't stop writing. "Right here. Just now."

"And somewhere over there." She pointed out to the city. "Three days ago."

"Yeah. Guess so." His response sounded cautious, just reaffirming what she had already said.

"So you seriously don't have any experience with this sort of thing?" Yang leaned in closer. "No girls at all? Not even a small fling?"

"Was it that bad?" Jaune continued writing, but he sounded agitated. "Because if I'm that bad, then why didn't you say so? Why did you lie to me?"

"No no no. I didn't say that." She chuckled lightly. "For god's sake Jaune, live a little. Give yourself more credit. You're good at a lot of things."

"So be honest with me." He put down his pencil and faced her. "On a scale of one to ten, how am I?"

"Eh, eight to nine, give or take." She only took a moment to come up with an answer. "Which considering you've got no experience whatsoever, is pretty good."

"Huh." He looked like he was expecting worse. "Not what I was expecting from you."

"So what did you expect, Jaune?"

"I don't know Yang. I've heard rumors and things around about how girls and women are with… you know… what we do."

"C'mon Jaune." She insisted. "We've gone all the way together. Don't be shy now."

"Right." Those words made him regain some form of composure. "Anyway, I just hear stuff."

"Like?" She scooted her seat closer. "Do tell your best friend with benefits what you've been hearing."

He sighed. "Well, I hear that girls and women are hard to satisfy. Hard to please."

"Well that depends on the girl. Remember, we're all different. Some are easy prey. Others are predators that require the best."

"So what are you? Are you a predator?"

Jaune leaned forward in his chair, carefully watching her. She didn't miss this for one moment. His stare filled her with the need to speak plain and clear. No time for jokes or useless banter. He was probably just as unsure as her as to where they stood on this friends with benefits relationship.

"I'm a huntress." Yang flexed her muscles. "That's the way I'm a predator. This is a first for me too, so in terms of relationships, sexy stuff, etcetera, I don't know. Guess I'm small game."

His eyes fell to the ground, then he looked back to her eyes. He looked like he had a question to ask her as well.

"Jaune?" She moved closer.

"Yang?" Jaune bit his lips. "I got a question."

"Yeah." She didn't hesitate to respond. "I got a question of my own too."

"How are you so good?"

"Have you thought about protection?"

Both of them asked their questions at the same time. In doing so, they had failed to hear each other.

"What?" They both echoed, looking at each other.

"Uh, you go first." Yang gestured to Jaune.

"No, no." Jaune returned her movement. "You go first."

"Alright." She shrugged lightly. "What's your secret? Nobody's that good at sex unless they've either got practice and experience or a secret? You don't have practice or experience. Well, not a lot anyways. So how are you doing it?"

Jaune looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Oh man. I was hoping to keep this one my secret."

"What, you thought that I was judge you?" She grabbed his hands. "Jaune, didn't we talk about this? We promised to be honest with each other. Remember?"

Looking down at their intertwined fingers, he gave in. "I might've used a little aura trick that Pyrrha showed me."

"A trick Pyrrha taught you?" Yang tilted her head to the right. "What did she teach you?"

"She was teaching me how to use aura to enhance physical performance beyond what a person can do without it." Jaune didn't say anymore.

"Clever. Very clever." Yang grinned. "You know, you surprise me a lot. I should remember that you've got quite the creative mind up there."

"It was a longshot." He tried to downplay it. "I didn't know if it would actually work."

"Apparently, it's working well enough." Yang couldn't help the pleasant face she made. "I've got no complaints."

"I'll be sure to remember that." He appeared satisfied with himself. "So it's my turn. Have you taken any contraceptives lately?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about not telling you that." Yang dropped her light-hearted smiles in exchanged for a serious expression. "Well, I didn't take anything until we got back. I've had them for a while, but I didn't actually think I'd be using them."

"One time is all it takes, Yang." Jaune tapped his finger on the desk rapidly. "And we've gone three times."

"I know, I know. But I can only take the stuff and hope for the best."

"There's nothing else we can do?"

"Unless you've got any more ideas, there's nothing else I can think of. It'll have to be enough."

"I hope you're right."

Jaune turned his attention back to his schoolwork, and Yang found herself unsatisfied with the end of their conversation. She had more questions for him, but when talking about protection, she'd noticed just how much he looked nervous.

"Jaune?" She was right next to him, her chair right next to his.

"In a minute." He sounded like he'd just been cut.

Yang bit her bottom lip, frowning at his attempt to ignore her. Jaune was more worried about this whole thing than she was. And he had no intention of talking about it right now. Well, too bad for him, she was going to force the issue.

So with an almost lackadaisical demeanor, she moved her legs from the desk to his lap, where he couldn't possibly ignore her. His effort to resist were feeble, and he finally gave up when Yang began to test him. He hissed lightly.

"What, Yang?" Jaune sighed deeply. "Can't this wait?"

"C'mon, Jaune. That's your best answer?" She pouted at his evasiveness. "'I hope you're right?' That's your best?"

"What do you want me to say?" Jaune demanded, "It's like you said. We can't do much else. Just wait it out, hope we don't get ourselves into a hole we can't dig out of."

"You think a kid's a hole we can't dig out of?" Yang questioned, "It's not like we're the first to come up with this crazy relationship of ours."

"You almost make it sound like you want a child." Jaune looked up at the ceiling, then back to her. "Is that what you want?"

"Did I say I wanted a kid now?" Yang punched his shoulder. "Hell, no. I'm not ready for that yet. Neither of us are ready for it. At least not for a good five years, maybe ten."

Jaune's eyes widened as she said those words, and Yang realized what her words sounded like. Before she could explain what she meant to say, he'd already decided to ignore it.

"If you're not ready for a child, then why talk about it?" Jaune looked upon her. "What's the thinking?"

"What would you do if it happened? If I became pregnant during this thing?"

Jaune's eyes fell as he envisioned the scenario placed before him. That was only for a brief moment, then he exhaled a breath.

 _That wasn't very long,_ She thought, _Must've already thought about it. Not surprising. He usually likes to be ahead of the game._

"I'd support you and the child." It was as if his answer was the only one he could give to her. "If it came to that. I might be afraid, but like I've said before, I never leave a friend behind, especially in a situation like that."

"I know you would." She nodded. "I just wanted to hear it."

"I'm sorry, Yang," Jaune said, "I just… the idea of being a parent scares the dust outta me."

"You think I'm not scared?" The blonde girl sounded fine, but the blond boy knew better. "If I get preggo, I gotta live with it. For a long time. I've heard about all the shit that women go through. Not something I want to experience anytime soon. Then being a mom?"

"And given your history with your mother and step-mother," Jaune deduced immediately, "You feel that you're not ready."

"...yeah." Yang noticed her hands twiddling with each other. "So what's that like? Parents who are still alive and have eight kids and still love each other?"

"Eh, about what you'd expect." Jaune shrugged. "Even with two committed parents, life is hectic with eight kids."

He looked away for a few seconds before meeting her gaze again, his eyes softening. "Why are you asking…wasn't there ever a time your family was like that?" His voice suddenly gentle.

"Seems so far away." Yang muttered, a bit of somberness leaking into her expression. "I guess I miss it more than I know."

Jaune sighed, "Can't say I know what that's like."

His words were laced with something Yang didn't want to acknowledge.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't expect you to understand." She said firmly. "And I don't want you to have to experience that. Trust me, you're not missing out on anything."

It was true that Jaune wouldn't ever understand it. In comparison to Yang and Ruby, he'd had a relatively normal life. Two parents and seven siblings. No family deaths, no family leaving him. It was average, and more often than not, he forgot just how lucky he was to have a functioning family. Not everyone was blessed with that option.

He felt bad now.

"I'm gonna head back to the dorms." Jaune said after a beat, closing his notebook and dispelling the heavy atmosphere. "You getting done too?"

"Been done for at least half an hour." Yang responded, a smug smile stretched across her face. "Just been waiting for you."

"Are you calling me slow?" He sounded neither offended or amused.

"Hey, dude." She collected her things. "You said it, not me."

"Oh and by the way," Jaune's face curled into a smirk. "I thought you weren't scared of anything."

"I'm not." Yang looked unsure.

"You just said a child scares you." Jaune looked really satisfied with himself.

Yang looked flabbergasted. "No, I never… don't shove my words in my mouth. I am a woman, and I reserve the right to be inconsistent."

"Oh, I know, Yang. Remember? Seven sisters?"

"And don't you forget it."

They didn't spend much time putting the books away as they were both beginning to feel exhausted. A combination of their unforeseen passionate moment and their assignment was beginning to catch up to them. A few books might've been placed in the wrong sections, no big deal.

Walking back to their dorms, it was already dark out. Nobody was outside tonight, and the only sound came from a soft wind that whirled around them. Neither Jaune nor Yang spoke, they just remained close to each other as they walked, they didn't even share looks.

They only saw people when they entered the dorms, and when they did, they both received strange looks. Both blondes at first payed no mind to it in spite of their curiosity as to why people were staring.

Then they passed a few more students. They too gave that look.

"You saw that right?" Jaune looked confused.

"Uhhhhh… yeaaaaah?" Yang now began to share his sentiment.

When they reached their doors, both of them looked to each other. A nod goodnight was all they exchanged. Then as they stepped away, they found themselves unable to separate, they both came back together. Literally.

Both of them looked at the other in confusion. Then they looked down.

They were holding hands.

Their heads snapped back to each other sharply, their eyes widening in surprise. Both of them separated instantly and quickly opened and closed their doors quickly and quietly.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Gods dammit." Yang shut the door, putting her back to it. She raised her hand to her face, then tightened it. "Why didn't I see that?"

How could she not see that? Who on Remnant didn't know when they were holdings hands? There were rules to friends with benefits. They didn't hold hands. They didn't talk about futures with children. They didn't show affection.

 _And I forgot to establish the relationship boundaries._ Yang slammed a metal hammer against her skull. _Gods dammit. Again. Next time, I will NOT forget. I. Will. NOT. Forget._

Looking around the room, the only light was a single candle that was on the drawer between the "bunk beds." Everyone was decked out in their pajamas, and already asleep. Ruby had fallen asleep with her scroll next to her head. Weiss was curled up underneath her covers, a peaceful expression on her face. Blake had fallen asleep with a book in her lap.

Amazing that the door hadn't woken them up.

Bowing her head and taking a breath, Yang grabbed her sleeping clothes and took a shower. Even as she bathed, her mind was not focused on getting clean or even her hair. The image of his hand joined with her hand. It did more than take her by surprise; it was downright freaky, scary, maybe even worse. But it shouldn't though. Scare her that is. It was a simple gesture of closeness, physical intimacy, nothing more.

 _Calm down,_ Yang She stared at her left hand. _It was nothing. Just a little show of caring. It's nothing that will evolve._

Yang, after some time, exited the shower, put on her clothes, and then she noticed her own reflection in the mirror. It looked different to her somehow. She was… glowing? Narrowing her eyes and moving closer to the mirror, she looked harder at herself. Yes, she definitely looked more clear, more light. Her skin felt more clear, more vibrant than she was used to seeing. Even more strange was that she felt… happy. Not like her jokester happy moods. This was a happiness that was deeper and more genuine.

 _Okay so maybe it's really good sex. And that's a good thing. Stress relief, we all need that at one time or another. I'm no different. Is that so evil?_

So being happy wasn't that bad, right? It was sex, and wasn't that generally supposed to make someone happy when it was done right? This wasn't just something Yang would do with anyone in spite of her attitude telling another story. Of course nobody really knew that, and Yang was fine with letting people come to the conclusion that she was more experienced than she actually was.

Yang couldn't help but admire that she looked so much… more relaxed. Today had been a stressful day. Very stressful. All things considered, she looked really good.

With a final look, Yang gave herself a wink, talked to her reflection for a bit, then changed. She quickly climbed into bed and just flopped down without any sort of grace. She just fell down onto her bed and almost was out the moment her head hit the pillow.

"What is going on with you, Yang?" Blake stared at the top bunker. "Why so... not you?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Okay…" Jaune had no idea what to think. "I held her hand. I HELD her hand. I held HER hand. I held her HAND."

Jaune found it fortuitous that everyone was asleep now. He wasn't in any way prepared to explain his current mood. This whole thing with Yang was complicated enough. And it was a good thing that the bang hadn't woken them up.

Yang had said that he was good, as in she found him very satisfying. He was evenly split about what she said.

On one hand, the fact that he'd managed to please a girl, however inexperienced said girl was, stroked his ego in ways that he'd never felt before. Considering his luck with girls, it was still amazing when he realized that he and Yang were both in this. Not just him.

On the other side, there was a growing fear. More than once, Jaune had expressed a desire to not see this thing through. He hadn't ever managed to get far with girls. He would've been fine with things just being as they were.

Now, though, could he go back?

"Do I even want to go back?" His words could barely be heard. "I feel like… how can I even go back now?"

Was he growing reliant upon Yang? Was he craving her touch more than he knew? Was there something… more going on?

He let out a loud breath of air through his nose. He wasn't going to solve much against the door looking like a moron. He needed to get some sleep. Sex, though very much enjoyable, could also be very exhausting. He could almost just fall asleep now, but it wouldn't be good to go to sleep dirty.

Jaune reached for his onesie, went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, didn't even bother to comb his hair, then collapsed on the bed.

But he didn't close his eyes immediately. He was exhausted, but his mind was engaged with speculation.

 _What would dad do?_ Jaune blinked twice. _Would he yell at me? Lecture me about being a gentleman?_

For the first time in as long as he'd known his father, Jaune began to doubt that piece of info that had been passed on to him. That was the day he'd left for Beacon. For the past few months, Jaune had been sticking by it.

 _Girls love confidence._ Jaune snickered bitterly. _Do they? I don't see it working._

He'd already tried it on Weiss, and it had gotten him nowhere. The snow angel, as Jaune called her by default, wasn't into him. It only took him the entire first semester and listening to a few comments from around campus to put the pieces together. He felt insanely stupid for not figuring it out sooner, but then again, it was his nature to fail hard, right?

Maybe that's why he was over thinking this thing with Yang so much? They'd sort of become close through a means that Jaune still found astonishing.

But it's just sex. What's so complicated about that?

 _Just for sex. Just for sex._ He bit his lips harshly. _Just for sex._

He kept repeating those three words in his head until he could no longer remain conscious.

"What's wrong Jaune?" Pyrrha's words were whispered with much worry. "What are you afraid of?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Yang Xiao Long." Professor Goodwitch pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "Jaune Arc. Both of you, to the arena."

Neither Jaune nor Yang were eager to get onto the training floor. Even as the two of them descended and got ready, it was apparent that they were uneasy around each other. Nobody, regardless of their mood, was rooting for Jaune to win. Nobody expected him to have what it took.

They both took up positions opposite each other and away from the arena borders. Yang held her fists up in a ready stance. Jaune held his shield in front of him while his sword stayed at his side pointed at the ground.

"Begin." Professor Goodwitch quickly announced.

That was their cue to start, but neither of them took the first hit, neither of them made any visible moves. Everyone was confused; it was so unlike both Jaune and Yang to remain still like this. Someone had to make the first move. Only Professor Goodwitch seemed unfazed by this; she actually was watching them more intensely.

Both warriors weren't inactive as many believed. Rather, both of them were trying to figure out who was going to hit first. Neither of them wanted to take the initiative. Jaune took a breath as he inched forward with his dominant foot. Yang felt herself mirroring his actions.

They stared hard at each other, not willing to allow a moment of distraction, even when some people were urging them to get on with it.

Only seconds had passed, but due to the usually exciting and fast nature of fights in this class, seconds felt like minutes now. For single combat, five minutes was the limit for a fight. Aside from a few students, only Glynda was keeping watch of the time. Fifteen seconds had passed.

Yang then began to move to her left, and Jaune circled right in response. Both of them maintaining a stance that would allow them to charge should they need to. Their faces were unreadable, but whether or not it stemmed from seriousness or some other factor wasn't apparent. Their movements were slow and deliberate, their upper bodies barely moving at all. Hardly a sound could be heard from the two hunters in training. Their footsteps were soft as they revolved around the center of the arena.

 _When is he going to strike?_

 _When is she going to hit?_

 _What the hell are we doing?_

 _Should I… ?_

Then, without warning, they both struck simultaneously. Even for Jaune, their speed was astonishingly fast. There wasn't anything to see really, only a gold and white blur for maybe a second, two at most. Then it was over, and the two of them were standing back-to-back with their respective sword and fist extended, looking like the last scene in an action movie. Although they showed no visible signs of damage, both their auras had decreased.

Jaune barely had enough time to turn around and hold his shield up when Yang's fist landed dead center. A loud clang echoed throughout the room as Jaune became intimately familiar with the ground, the sheer force of the punch knocking him off his feet. He rolled with the impact and rose into a ready stance, only to be sent down for round two as he narrowly blocked an incoming drop kick. As they both hit the ground, Yang aimed her gauntlets at him, firing off four rounds. He frantically brought his shield to bear and blocked her shots.

Again, she took the offensive, and he was forced to defending himself. He knew that trying to lash out against her was only a good idea if he had the opportunity to take her down; opportunities like that were about as rare as a compliment from Weiss, so he'd have to play a war of attrition. That is, if she didn't knock him out of the game first.

Yang used her gauntlets and her aura to propel herself forward with the intent of trying to either knock Jaune down again or launch him out of the arena. His first instinct was to channel his aura directly in front of him, creating a rough circle ward, and brace himself. Her right hand hit the white barrier in front of him, causing it to ripple wildly as it resisted the force of the blow. Jaune felt himself sliding backwards, and while he buckled under the pressure, he still stood.

With a cry, Yang followed up with a blazing fast combo, the quick but deceptively powerful blows eating away at his barrier faster than he liked. He could already feel it giving way, so he took a gamble. He dismissed the shield and simultaneously dove to the side, catching Yang off guard and managing to clumsily evade the rest of her onslaught.

Yang was already visibly angry. She should've already taken Jaune down. It wasn't that hard for everyone else. He was still a small fry in combat. To make matters worse, he hadn't even tried to land a blow. She knew what he was doing. The fact that now, of all times, he was actually a decent challenge, wasn't good. How would she live with the fact that he'd beaten her in a fight?

She getting ahead of herself a bit there. He wouldn't, couldn't beat her.

With renewed spirit, she let out another cry and slammed into him. He grunted under the force of her blow but stood firm. She needed a way to force him on the offensive so she could increase her power and end the fight.

For the first time in Jaune's memory, Yang backed down from a fight and stood back, her hands ready defend herself, but her posture making it clear that she was waiting for him to make a move. He wasn't happy about that, not at all. Tapping the edge of his blade against the flat of his shield, Jaune took a few moments to consider how to approach her. He glanced at the aura readings briefly. Although she had a higher percentage of aura left than he did, his remaining aura was more potent than hers. He'd have to make do with what he had and hope for the best.

So with a strategy that he used in his first weeks at Beacon, Jaune charged Yang, who watched him, waiting for the perfect time to strike. When he was within arm's reach, she lashed out with a right hook meant for his jaw. To her great surprise, he had anticipated this move, sidestepped her, and viciously slammed his shield into her face, causing her to stagger sideways and fall to the ground. She had not expected that at all.

She pounded the ground in frustration and performed a rising handspring to get back on her feet. As soon as she righted herself, she realized that Jaune's blade was moments away from her unprotected side. She instinctively reacted to Jaune's sideways slash by grabbing the blade with her hands, conscious of the fact that that move would cause her some aura damage.

With the blade held horizontally between the two, a power struggle began. The brawler twisted the blade sideways and down, forcing the knight, who was unwilling to release his only weapon, onto one knee. Once there, Jaune knew he didn't have much time before Yang took advantage of this. So instead of fighting against Yang's superior strength, he worked with it. He allowed himself to be felled, which caught Yang by surprise, again.

As he fell, he pulled the blade backwards, which in turn made Yang, who was gripping the sword tightly, stumble forward. He sprung up from the ground, simultaneously bringing the hilt of his blade across her face, staggering her and giving him enough time to escape from her trap. She only needed a few seconds to recover from his strike, however, and when she turned to face him, he saw that her eyes looked close to changing red. Panic began to fill his face, he'd played right into her hands.

"Uhhhh... I'm sorry." Jaune ventured nervously, feeling extremely pathetic afterwards.

"You will be, you bugger." Yang sounded more amused than angry. "You will be."

She aimed Ember Celica and fired three rounds. Jaune caught them with top of his shield, angling it backwards and deflecting them upwards and away. Unfortunately, the force of the shells was more than he anticipated, causing the top of his shield slam into his face, making him falter. Yang took this opportunity to tackle him to the ground, her body straddling his own. She knocked Crocea Mors out of the way before delivering a punch to his face, then another, and another. She found her fourth punch being intercepted by his hand, then he countered with a single punch to her face before forcing her off of him.

Jaune only had enough time to grab his shield as Yang had quickly kicked his sword out of the arena. He didn't even bother to look at it. Jaune rightened himself, keeping the shield strapped tightly to his forearm. He felt fatigue getting to him.

Yang was also feeling tired. It wasn't so much that Jaune had landed a lot of hits as it was that he was proving to be difficult taking down. She was expending more energy trying to hit him than actually hitting him.

Without really thinking about it, Jaune readied himself with his shield. Yang fired again, trying a similar tactic as before. This time, instead of simple upward deflection, Jaune channeled some of his dwindling aura around his shield. The round hit his shield and promptly bounced back at Yang with unerring accuracy. Seeing the round coming back, she reflexively batted away the round, saving herself from the brunt of the explosion, but at the cost of her right gauntlet becoming inoperable.

 _Doesn't matter._ She readied herself, her aura exploding like a flame around her. _Close and personal, that's me._

Realizing they were fast running out of options, they charged each other. She let him get in the first swing, but she followed up with her own flurry. Still, he managed to hold steady.

Yang's mind quickly thought of something else, and she did a leg sweep, which Jaune wasn't expecting in the least. The moment he fell to the ground, she tried to deliver a final head shot. More out of luck than anything else, his shield intercepted her, and then he tripped her while she was distracted. Now they were both on the ground.

That was it. Yang was done playing around.

They both rose at the same time, but Yang's eyes had warped into their intimidating red color.

She called upon what aura she had to seize the offensive.

Even with his surprising degree of control over his shield, it wasn't enough for Jaune, and he was giving way to Yang's training and experience. The longer she fought him, the more she felt like she somehow knew how to bypass his defenses. She wasn't even thinking about how to do it, she just knew where to aim her blows.

One uppercut, a fist to the abdomen, another to his face. She grabbed his shield and then using her operational gauntlet, she delivered an almost point blank shot to his chest. He stumbled backwards and fell on all fours coughing. His shield clattered uselessly to the ground at her feet. She glanced up to see that he amazingly still had aura left, though nothing she couldn't take down easily.

"Give it up, Jaune." Her red eyes began to return to their usual color. "You're not going to win this."

She waited for him to respond. Unnatural silence filled the room. No one made a noise as they watched with bated breath to see what the knight would do. Whether he chose to fight or to surrender was anyone's guess. Knowing Jaune, he might have a reason for either option.

Still, as beaten as he was and as much as he ached, everyone watched him at least some respect as he unsteadily got to his feet. Even without his sword and his shield lying out of reach, he persisted.

"Not. Done. Yet." His breathing was heavy and ragged.

Yang frowned at this, decided that a quick end was the best thing to do now. Knowing that he was defenseless and he wasn't going to be able to dodge at this range, she held up her arm to fire a round. Her intuition was true. Jaune didn't evade the blow. He charged head-on into it. He channeled what aura he had left and raised a white aura barrier one last time. The round detonated between them, disorienting Yang who wasn't expecting to be caught in her own attack. She barely raised her gauntlets in time to shield herself. The explosion washed over both of them leaving smoke in its wake.

In the time it took her to process what happened, she found herself lifted off the ground by a full body tackle. She couldn't do much to defend herself as she felt herself hit the ground hard. The world spun out focus momentarily and came back just as quickly. She found Jaune straddling her, punching her with everything he had. She threw a few wild punches in retaliation, but he knocked them aside with his shield. He'd apparently picked it up his from beside her while she was out of it and was now resorting to banging the point against her head, making it rattle like hell.

For the first time in the fight, Yang felt a bit of real fear creep up on her. His blows might've helped her gain strength. Unfortunately, she knew that she was probably down to her last leg. Another hit and she'd be out.

With a look fueled by a mix of desperation, rage, and adrenaline, he raised his shield once more. She tried to shield her face as best as she could.

He brought the shield down.

The point embedded itself into the floor above her head.

Yang let out the breath she had been holding, her heart pounding along with her head. Her eyes locked onto to Jaune's, who was leaning over her, his face parallel with hers. Sweat trickled off his soot covered face, his breath, coming in gasps, felt hot against her face. She could feel slight tremors running through his body. He looked shocked at what he just did. Everyone seemed surprised in fact. Professor Goodwitch looked positively intrigued.

Jaune stared at her for a few more seconds before leaning to the side and collapsing to the floor. Neither of them felt the urge to get up. Both were hurting. It would seem their hits did more than drain aura.

"And the match is a tie." Professor Goodwitch finally spoke, gesturing at the screen which showed both their auras in the red. "Ms. Xiao Long, I acknowledge you as one of the best in the first-year, but I must advise you to take your opponents more seriously. Mr. Arc took advantage of your inattentiveness and managed to catch you by surprise."

Yang didn't really hear the words, only noticing that Jaune, who had made it to his feet, was offering her a hand up. She took it and the two of them leaned on each other for support.

"Mr. Arc, your training has improved vastly, and I do see that you are taking risks to get results, but make sure that you remain level-headed. You're fortunate that this time your emotions helped you. See that it doesn't end up clouding your judgement."

Both of their teams were quick to lend a hand to their teammates.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

During the fight, both Pyrrha and Blake were studying the combatants intensely. It was one of the few fights that held their attention so closely.

The battle went nothing like the two of them were expecting. Blake had expected Yang to win without much of a fight. As much as Jaune was improving, he was still leagues behind. Pyrrha too expected Jaune to only put up a mild fight at best. A stalemate was hardly what they were expecting.

The moment the fight was over, the two of them rushed out to help their respective partners along with their other teammates.

"Jaune," Pyrrha took him under her arm. "Breathe. You're fine. You did excellently."

"Thanks, Pyrrha." His grimace told her to not hold him too hard. "That was… intense."

"Yang, talk to me." Blake separated Yang from Jaune. "You look like hell."

"Gee, ya think?" Yang glared at her briefly. "I need to… sit down."

"Well, we've still got another half hour." Weiss looked at her scroll. "But we should go see if there are any severe injuries."

"You guys go to the nurse." Blake gave Pyrrha a quick wink. "We'll cover for you."

"Yes, we will." Pyrrha followed suit.

"K!" Nora shouted. "Thanks!"

"We'll be back in a bit." Ruby called out.

Class wasn't fully over, so Pyrrha and Blake found their seats and settled down. Both blondes groaned as they were led away by the rest of their teams. Both huntresses in training didn't stop watching until their teams left the classroom. Professor Goodwitch began to talk, but neither of them listened.

"What do you think?" Pyrrha leaned over and kept her tone soft. "Training together?"

"Could be." Blake wasn't convinced though. Something seemed off. "Here, I recorded it with my scroll. Let's take a look."

The two girls leaned in to watch the match again. Looking at the fight again from a more analytical standpoint and applying the knowledge of their partner's fighting styles, it didn't take long for them to realize something they couldn't possibly ignore. Both of them were borrowing tactics and behaviors from each other, anticipating each other. The fight had never been completely in Yang's favor. It was as if the two of them somehow were fighting on somewhat equal grounds.

Only Jaune and Yang were far from equals.

"Nobody learns to be that good in a few months' time." Blake inhaled. "It takes years of practice."

"And they both showed tendencies that they would otherwise never show." Pyrrha said thoughtfully. "It's almost as if-"

"They learned how to be each other."

"... I suppose that's the best way to characterize it."

The two of them weren't sure that this possible discovery was a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, two people learning how to be better friends. Who wouldn't want to be a better friend?

The question was this: what else was going on? Two people didn't just become close friends to the point of acting like the other in mere days.

"So what does this mean?" Blake put her scroll in her pocket. "That doesn't tell us a lot."

"It might tell us more than we think." Pyrrha's eyes were lit up. "I'm going to have to do some research. Maybe the answer's closer than we think."

"And in the meantime while you research?" Blake leaned against the wall. "Just keep watch? See what's up?"

"We might have a better idea if we could actually watch them." Pyrrha spoke as if she already had this planned out. "Blake, do you think you can find out more by tailing them?"

"I don't know." Blake looked indecisive. "I get why you're suggesting this, but it feels kind of… wrong."

"You don't have to do it." Pyrrha bowed her head. "But we can't always solve a problem with clues and hints. We need something concrete to work with."

"And this is the only way." The ninja ground her teeth together. "Look, can't we hold off on that? I'll do some research too. I want to be reasonable about this investigation."

"... I suppose a few more days wouldn't hurt." Pyrrha agreed slowly. "Let's hope we don't have to do anything disagreeable."

"I never said we don't do it." Blake argued. "I just said we should hold off. The last thing we need is to be caught spying on them. They'd think we don't trust them enough."

Trust.

Just how much of that did they both have?

In their partners? In themselves? In each other?

"We wait for a while longer."

* * *

 **Five weeks and one day. I know you all want more, and honestly, this took me longer than I wanted. Still, I'm satisfied with what I've got. And thanks to my two beta-readers for helping me out. I can't thank them enough for their efforts.**

 **I'm sure that some people might have some things to say in regards to Yang and Jaune in a stalemate. Yang is the better fighter than Jaune, but if you've been paying attention to certain details, than you know that there's a reason why I did what i did.**

 **An unrelated side note. Rewatching Captain America Civil War, I began to think that the romance between Cap and Agent 13 was weak, unnecessary even. I would think that Black Widow would be a better option, probably the best one. Hell, even Scarlett Witch might be better. The two of them know what it's like to lose a brother.**

 **So what did you guys think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Meh? Leave a review with your opinions and feedback. Also, let me know what your semblance and weapon of choice would be for RWBY. I need to know how to best defend myself from the anger of my audience. I don't care if you're as overpowered as Superman. Just get me if you can.**

 **Can anyone catch the references that I've made? There are a few.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all for your dedication and patience. Thanks for over 800 follows, 252 review, and almost 600 favorites.**

 **And remember:**

 _ **"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."**_

 **William Shakespeare**

 **Peace!**


	9. Ch 9: Fight Club

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 9: Fight Club

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Afternoon**

Yang sat on the edge of her bed trying to fix Ember Celica's firing mechanism. Until she fixed them, both her gauntlets weren't going to be anything more than useless weight. The explosive dust had done more than simply mess up a few parts. Some of them were warped beyond recognition. She might very well have to buy new ones.

She was mad about that. She was mad about how combat class went in general. It wasn't like her to lose. In fact, she hadn't lost a single fight except to Pyrrha, but that was a different story. The spartan was the best of the best and losing to her was understandable. Losing to Jaune, one of the worst warriors in her class?

Not cool. At all.

Yang supposed that she should be fortunate that it was just a stalemate and not a loss. So technically, her reputation wasn't ruined, just a bit bruised. Still, she couldn't help but feel sore at the loss. She never took losing lightly, especially since it was against someone she knew that she could've beaten easily.

She gasped softly as a sudden pain shook her from her thoughts. Yang frowned in annoyance at the two parts that had pinched her ring finger. She checked to make sure that there was no bleeding before resuming her work.

If the blonde brawler had to choose what she wanted to be doing at that moment, it would certainly have nothing to do with staying in Team RWBY's dorm. Her aura was recovering quickly, and any injuries that she'd sustained were, for the most part, gone. She wanted to be with her team, and get away from her thoughts of Jaune. Unfortunately, fixing Ember Celica took precedence.

As she continued tinkering with her gauntlets, her thoughts began to drift, seemingly picking up where they'd left off.

The match wasn't a loss for her. Professor Goodwitch had declared it a draw, but from her standpoint, she felt that she'd lost the match. If the fight had continued, Jaune would've been the victor, and that was the most important thing to the blonde girl.

In her mind, she had lost.

A few pieces of Ember Celica fell to the ground with a clank. Yang growled at this inconvenience before setting out to find each and every one. She really hated it when she lost parts like this.

Once she had all the parts lying in front of her, she began to realize just how much effort this would take to get fixed. The actual gun mechanisms would require new hammers and she needed to clean out the gauntlet in general. Dust residue had gotten the entire weapon messy, partly from the dust bullets fired and the rest from the explosions sustained during the fight.

She noted she could also do some cleaning to the insides. It was a good habit to clean each part anyway. The gauntlets could be in worse condition, but this wasn't exactly something she could fix in fifteen minutes.

Grumbling at the work she would have to do, she grabbed her scroll and began to compare prices for the parts that she needed. She was careful to make sure that the site selling the parts wasn't a fraud site. Uncle Qrow had recommended certain brands depending on the part that she needed. Her dad too had his recommendations. Maybe she could send some messages and ask if they might be able to procure premium parts.

Uncle Qrow. She hadn't thought about him in a while. The last she remembered, he was on a mission somewhere for Ozpin. He never said where he was going until after it was done, and that was if he even cared to explain where he'd been.

She was so engrossed in what she was doing that the sound of the door opening didn't register to her at all. It was only when she heard footsteps that she looked up to see Weiss entering with Ruby in tow. Blake brought up the rear, casting her one of those looks.

"So what's the damage, sis?" Ruby hopped onto her own top bunk and faced Yang? "Bad? Horrible? Okay?"

"It's not good. Still, I can salvage a few things." Yang grabbed a nearby box to place all the parts in. "But it looks like it's time for me to go parts shopping."

"Are you feeling okay?" Blake stood between the two bunks, hands on her hips. "Jaune did quite the number on you."

"Don't remind me." Yang's feet hit the ground. "I should've won that fight easy. I mean, it's Jaune. How was that even fair?"

"Yang, c'mon. Jaune's our friend. Be a little more supportive than that." Ruby poked a finger at Yang.

"I don't think that's the issue, Ruby." Weiss shifted her weight from her right foot to her left foot. "I think the issue is that she didn't win."

"Neither did Jaune." Ruby made a pouty frown. "Is there a problem with Jaune getting better?"

Nobody chose to answer Ruby's question. Yang had resorted to looking at the ground with murderous intent. Weiss looked like she was trying to think of something to say without making things worse. Blake stared out the window, thinking about something else.

"Hello? Ruby to Team RWBY here!" The red-clad girl began to wave her arms around. "Is anyone home?"

"We're still here, Ruby." Blake turned back to the conversation at present. "Just… Jaune's performance caught us all by surprise."

"Yeah…" Ruby seemed to drift off herself. "It was certainly… impressive."

"Of course you would think so." Yang's words were tainted with poison. "Always the staunch supporter of Jaune Arc."

"Can't I see my friends fight a good fight?" Ruby rounded on Yang. "Since when has this mattered to you so much?"

Ruby and Yang both glared at each other. Weiss and Blake cast glances at both sisters, unsure as to what would happen next. This was the first time in living memory that the two of them had witnessed a disagreement between the sisters. It seemed at times that the two sisters had an unorthodox but perfect relationship. No arguments, no raised voices, no obvious signs of disagreement. But then again, both the heiress and the Faunus knew both Ruby and Yang for a little more than half a year.

And they both should've known that no relationship is ever perfect, even between sisters with a very tight bond. Personal experience taught them that much.

"Look, can we just not talk about it?" Yang sighed in defeat. "I just… you guys know how I hate losing. Even if I didn't lose, it was pretty close. Might as well been a loss."

Ruby didn't look ready to drop the conversation.

"Let this one go, Ruby." This time, it was Blake that interrupted. "It's not worth it. I'm sure things will smooth over with time."

"...fine." Ruby just waved a hand in dismissal. "I give up."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Pyrrha had immediately gone to JNPR's dorm room to check up on Jaune. His injuries had healed remarkably quickly. It shouldn't have been surprising given his aura levels, but as always when any harm came to her partner and team leader, the spartan was always concerned. Ren and Nora had returned to combat class, saying that Jaune was fine. Pyrrha still wasn't convinced; she needed to see that Jaune was fine with her own eyes.

So when she saw the room was completely empty and Jaune's bed looked untouched, her first reaction was to panic. Then she noticed a green note on her own bed, and knowing that she never left things on her bed randomly, she picked it up.

It was a message from Jaune.

 _I'm on the roof training._

Pyrrha placed the note back on her bed before grabbing Miló and Akoúo̱ and heading out. She was sure that the moment she got there, he would be asking her to train. It was like Jaune to constantly find ways to get better because he was trying to condense years of training into months. It wasn't ideal by any stretch, but the redhead still admired him for that.

A minute of climbing the stairs of the dorm building led her to the top. She opened the door to see Jaune slashing and swinging, dodging an unseen foe, then using his shield as a weapon. Contrary to what she normally saw from the blonde knight, he wasn't just using the standard sword maneuvers that she'd taught him. He was incorporating grappling techniques, hand-to-hand surprise attacks, things he'd never used before, but things that Yang most definitely used. It was quite mesmerizing to see him in a battle trance like this; Pyrrha felt a smile on her face.

When he finally stopped in a final stance, she approached, and he took notice of her for the first time since she'd stepped foot on the roof.

"How do I look?" Jaune's question was devoid of anything resembling arrogance or cockiness. Just a simple question. "Good?"

"It's different from what I've taught you." Pyrrha didn't care to mention the Yang parts. She didn't want to think about Yang at this point. "But I can see you're making good use of your technique."

"Yeah…" Jaune seemed to catch onto what Pyrrha hadn't said. "So, do you want to train with me?"

Pyrrha expected this question, but she needed to know one thing first. "Jaune, are you okay? You seem like something's bothering you."

"It's nothing. Really." Jaune placed Crocea Mors on his left hip. "I'd rather not talk about it if it's all the same to you."

"Is this about Yang?" Pyrrha stepped closer. Only a short distance separated them. "Did she do something?"

He attempted to guard what he was feeling, but Pyrrha saw instantly that he was trying to hide hurt and somberness. No anger, though, which was as unsurprising as it was impressive. How Jaune could be this tolerant of any action or words against him truly did make her wonder how he did it.

"Can we not talk about it?" Jaune's voice pleaded with her to drop the subject. "I just need something to take my mind off of her, for now at least."

"Okay. I understand." She didn't really understand the problem, just that there was one. "I've been meaning to get back to training with you anyway."

"Sorry about that. I've been kinda caught up with all of this Yang business that I've been neglecting you guys."

"It's okay, Jaune. We all get sidetracked at one time or another."

"Guess so." He nodded his head in agreement. "So can we just do a mock-battle?"

"If you wish." She took up position opposite him. "Should I hold back?"

"Actually," he said, "Mind if you hold nothing back?"

"Jaune, are you sure?"

"Pyrrha, please? For me? I'll tell you to stop if I can't take it."

"... as you say."

With at least several meters of distance between them, they took up stances, Pyrrha holding her shield in front of her with her blade held with the tip at the ground. Jaune held his own shield in the same way Pyrrha did, but his blade was held with a backhand, the blade pointed forward parallel with his shield arm. This was without a doubt an aggressive stance, something that Jaune almost never used.

"A different stance." Pyrrha felt the need to voice the obvious, to see if he would answer her.

"An experiment. I don't know. It looks… cool?" Jaune was unsure of what to say, but at the same time, he wasn't timid in response.

"No, I get it. It's… fine." She didn't really know what else to say. "A change of pace is always welcome."

He nodded.

She nodded.

Then their eyes tightened in concentration.

Then the sound of fast-approaching footsteps.

A clash of blades.

A blade against a shield.

Wind around them.

Moments of silence.

And eavesdroppers nearby.

A floor below.

"There they go again." Cardin didn't need to see the two of them to know what they were doing. "And this time, Jaune might actually be putting up a fight."

"Well, he did almost beat Yang in a fight." Russell was nearby. "And you know what a terror she is."

"So we're admiring Arc now?" Sky looked disgusted. "How low we've fallen."

"Still angry about last night?" Dove jabbed his teammate.

"Doesn't it bother you guys? I mean, he's a wimp, and he's got Yang."

"A wimp wouldn't be able to get Yang in the red." Cardin looked extremely serious as he faced his team.

Nobody could debate that fact. And even if Jaune might still be a relatively easy target, there was still the ambiguity of his relationship with the Y of RWBY. All four of the boys had seen the two blondes last night. It was… insulting in a way.

But Cardin knew better than to interfere with Jaune Arc's life.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Three days later…**

The week seemed to fly by fast. For Ruby, this was a much-welcomed thing. She wished that more weeks could go by this fast. Two days of break time were coming up soon.

The leader of Team RWBY might've looked forward to it more if not for one glaring thing.

Yang, since her fight with Jaune, had reverted back to her old self, and that might've been just fine if it wasn't for the fact that whenever Jaune entered the room, she made extra effort to pretend that he wasn't there. She acknowledged Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, but not Jaune. Whenever he tried to get her attention, she excused herself swiftly. That hadn't stopped the goofball from still attempting to communicate, but she still didn't heed him in any way.

RWBY noticed.

JNPR noticed.

For the life of her, Ruby didn't know why Yang felt so strongly about this. It was one fight for goodness sake. One fight that shouldn't have mattered. Jaune was their friend, so what did it matter if she didn't win?

Oh yeah. Right. Yang and losing? Two things that didn't go well together.

In any case, she didn't place blame on either of them, but that still didn't solve the issue. Somehow or another, they needed to fix this.

Or rather Ruby wanted to fix this.

Ruby tipped her milk carton to her lips and took a long sip before setting it back down onto the tray. Yang sat between herself and Blake. Yang was content on making fun of Blake's choice of reading while the black-haired girl ignored her partner. Blake was half-talking, half-reading. She couldn't possibly be paying full attention to either.

Jaune was directly across from the scythe-wielder. He was trying to stop Nora from eating so many pancakes at once. Pyrrha was on his other side, smiling at her team leader's actions, and all the while casting him those doe eyes.

Again.

No, no, no. Why was Ruby drifting off? Jaune and Pyrrha were fine for now. It was Jaune and Yang that weren't fine. Even though the leader of RWBY had left Yang to stew in her own anger, it had only come out of short-lived frustration. Now with her head clear, she knew that she needed to do something.

And she would do it with or without Yang or Jaune's approval.

First thing first, she had to come up with a way to talk to Yang. Then she'd have to talk to her about the problem. Easy as pie, though cookies tasted better.

"Ruby Rose." Weiss's scolding tone pierced her thoughts. "Clean your mouth. You look absolutely ridiculous."

"What?" Ruby frowned at the heiress. "Did I make a mess?"

"Milk moustache." Weiss shook her head mildly. "It's unbecoming of you as team leader. You need to-"

"Make a better impression." Ruby felt a slight mocking tone creep up on her. "I get it. Have it your way, princess."

"Heiress." Weiss didn't like to correct things many times over.

"Same thing." Ruby grabbed her napkin and wiped all around. "Better?"

"Much." Weiss sighed. "So I see you're not the only one noticing."

"Noticing what?" Ruby asked.

"Really, Ruby? You have to ask me? You were staring at them."

Ruby wasn't sure if she should be surprised or not at Weiss's attention on the two blondes. It was so unlike the white-haired girl to care about these sort of things. Then again, Weiss was still a perfectionist, and as one, she was keen to watch details. Maybe she did notice and didn't care. Yeah, that sounded right.

"I... didn't think you cared." Ruby smiled nervously.

"I DO care. This is Yang, our teammate. Your sister." Weiss made a face. "Of course this matters to me."

"Oh yeah." Weiss had a sister. Duh, of course she could relate. "Sorry, Weiss."

"Don't be sorry. Just help them somehow. Jaune may be a lunkhead, but at least he's a good-natured lunkhead. And Yang needs to cool down a bit. It's just one fight."

"That's just about what I was thinking about saying to Yang." Ruby looked to her friends. "Let's hope it's enough."

With nothing else to say, the two partners finished up their food along with the rest of their teammates. The two teams cleared out of the cafeteria at the same time. Jaune and Ruby did a farewell on behalf of their teams. As they did so, Jaune's eyes flickered to the members of Team RWBY. He remained radiant for several seconds. Then Ruby saw a brief look of strain cross his face. He covered it up quickly and led his team away.

Ruby motioned for her team to follow her back to their dorm. As she did this, she saw Yang cast Jaune a pained look, but his back was turned, so he couldn't see the brawler's face.

 _Hmm._ This was an opportunity. _Things look better than I realized. With just the right push, I can get one of them to get the conversation started._

For now, it was time to get some rest and relaxation in. It was the weekend and they all intended to squeeze every moment of fun they could out of their two days of freedom. Weiss wished to scout around the transfer students. Blake had a new book that Ren gave to her. Yang probably wanted to head down to Vale and have some fun. Ruby was satisfied with helping Yang fix Ember Celica, as well as trying to get her friends back together.

Wait a minute. That came out wrong.

Get them on talking terms.

Now THAT was the right thing to say.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Late afternoon...**

"Annnnnnnnnnnd… DONE!" Ruby leaped down to the floor from her bunk. "She's fixed. Good as new."

"Thanks, Ruby." Yang pulled her younger sister in for a hug. "Have I ever told you that I love you? I have, haven't I? Well, I'll just say it again."

"I love you too." Ruby said, almost mockingly.

"See?! Was that so hard?" Yang crushed Ruby into a bear hug. "So cuddly."

"Yang." Ruby felt air get forced out of her lungs. "Stop."

"You're no fun." The elder sister mock-pouted. "C'mon, where's the sisterly love?"

"Yang." Ruby finally freed herself. "We… need to talk."

"About?"

"What's up with you and Jaune?"

"Man, you are no fun."

"I'm being serious." Ruby crossed her arms. "Letting this go was a mistake. So I won't until this thing between you is resolved."

"What, so I owe Jaune something now? I'm not his girlfriend. I don't have to do a damn thing. Matter of fact, I don't have to talk to him period."

"Are you so sore over that fight? One fight? Out of how many?"

"I LOST. To Jaune." Yang looked at the ground. "In any case that looks bad."

"You tied with Jaune." Ruby raised her hands in exasperation. "You didn't lose."

"Same thing to me. And the whole class saw it. I'm a total loser now."

"What? No, you're not a loser. You're my sister, the kickass fighter."

"Ruby! Language."

"Don't change the subject. We're talking about you and Jaune."

How fortunate that their partners weren't here to see this, much less anyone else. If looks could kill, both of them could destroy entire worlds. Yang felt herself losing control of herself. Her eyes shifted from lilac to red. Ruby's eyes even seemed a bit brighter.

"Yang, I know you. You've never cared about something like this. You've never cared about fights like this."

The blonde could be paying attention or she could just as well be blowing Ruby off. Regardless, Ruby didn't feel discouraged even if she wasn't paying attention.

"So what's the real problem?"

Yang snorted. "My problem? I'm listening to it right now."

"So it's going to be like this, is it?" Ruby took a few steps forward. "Fine, then I'll do this the hard way."

With a hard yank, the younger sister grabbed her elder sister's head and forced her eye-to-eye. Yang didn't fight back and Ruby knew she wouldn't. Yang could never find it in herself to hit Ruby.

"Now talk to me. And no more of this 'Because it's Jaune and he's a loser' crap. Cut that out. The real reason. Now."

Yang glared, her right eye twitching violently. Ruby didn't back down. The only way to get Yang to talk was to be firm with her. That was also assuming that Ruby's own intuition was correct, and that was a work in progress in many cases.

Silence.

Glares.

More silence.

More glares.

Crimson red eyes.

Dark silver eyes.

Lilac eyes now.

"...Jaune and I… we're… having a problem."

"Which is?"

Yang shook herself from Ruby's grasp. "Our line of communication is… unclear. A bit scattered if I do say so myself. We're better friends, sure, but yet… I feel we're missing out on what it means to be a friend."

"And what is that?"

"That's exactly it, Rubes. I don't know the problem. At least not fully. Right now, it's just small talk and maybe some cheerful joking at the other's expense, but I'm not exactly sure what sort of friend he wants me to be and I'm not sure what kind of friend I want him to be either."

"I'm sorta getting the problem, but not really." Ruby scratched her head. "Don't you just, you know, talk about that together?"

"Maybe if it were any other situation, I would. Right now though…" Yang looked at their door. "I can't be sure what's going through his head after that fight we had."

"It wasn't like you guys were fighting with malicious intent." Ruby replied, still confused. "Were you?"

"Maybe not that badly," Yang agreed, "But we certainly weren't on happy terms either. That night we worked together on the paper Oobleck assigned us, we kinda got into a conversation that may or may not have changed our relationship."

"How so?"

"I'm still working that out in my head, so it's not much use telling you about it, Ruby. The point is… I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk to him. I'm not sure he's ready to talk to me either."

"One of you has gotta do it sometime." Ruby said it like it was the only thing to do. "Just go and speak plainly to him."

"What? Just like that?" Yang looked skeptical. "But what if he-"

"No buts here, Yang Xiao Long." Ruby put on her serious face once again. "You will talk to him and you will get this straightened out. The last thing we need is tension between our teams."

"Why me?" Yang pointed to herself. "Why do I have to start it?"

"Because you're the socializer, not Jaune." Ruby almost chuckled. "Do you really think Jaune's the kind of person to make the first move?"

"Point… taken." Yang stood up, a resigned face adorning her. "Fine. I'll get this over with."

"Don't sound like it's a death sentence." Ruby lightened her expression. "It's Jaune. He's very understanding."

"I dunno." Yang moved to the door. "Everyone's got a breaking point. Even Jaune."

"You're not going to get your friendship back by sitting and hoping. Better to have tried and failed than to sit and wonder the 'what ifs'."

"Since when did you become smart, kid?" Yang flashed a true smile.

"Comes with being a leader." Ruby waved her off. "Now get out there."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Ruby." Yang opened the door. "I needed it."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Maybe I should just give up." Jaune laid his head against the wall as he sat on his bed. "She hasn't spoken a single word to me for three days."

"This is unbecoming of you, Jaune." Ren sat next to him. "I've never known you to give up like this."

"Yeah well, I've grown up a bit." There was a bit of bite in the blond boy's tone. "I mean, I chased Weiss for the entirety of last semester, and made myself look stupid in the process."

"It's often when we're stupid that we actually learn something important." Ren gazed at his team leader. "You learn more when you mess up than when you're always perfect."

"That's the silver lining for that story." Jaune placed a hand on his forehead. "But that still doesn't fix the problem right now."

"So what's the problem then?" Ren placed his hands in his lap. "I can't be of much help if I don't know what's going on."

The two boys hadn't been in their dorms for long. They'd just gotten back after spending time with their partners training. Jaune was insistent that they train together at least several times a week if nothing else. He was trying more and more to nail down their strengths and weaknesses.

And these past few days had been spent busying himself, spending time with the team on and off the combat floor. It was a good thing that he was doing this. For one thing, Nora was quite satisfied with the pancakes that Jaune had promised. For another, Pyrrha seemed to be in brighter spirits. Ren himself was just glad everything was okay with the team.

Then he saw Yang, and things just seemed to go sour. Jaune had a poor poker face. Sure, he tried to be good at it, but he still wasn't. Ren could see that look of sadness and longing in his eyes. Whatever his relationship with Yang was, it was disheartening to see that the two of them weren't talking to each other.

"Ren… how do you and Nora make it work?" Jaune made eye contact. "Two starkly contrasting personalities and you make it seem like it was meant to be."

"We've been at it since we were kids." Ren made a small laugh. "It's not something we came up with one day. I imagine that you and Yang are discovering differences?"

"Not verbally." Jaune glanced at Crocea Mors leaning on the edge of his bed. "We haven't said our differences, but they're becoming more apparent through this friendship we've forged."

"I understand." Ren spoke. "So was it an argument? Something else?"

"More like it's… an uncertainty. Something we both don't understand."

Jaune's momentary lapse didn't escape the notice of Ren. There was something going on that the knight didn't wish to divulge right now. That was the missing link that Ren needed to know in order to suggest a complete solution. Otherwise he was just reaching out blindly in the dark. If Jaune wouldn't give him answers, he'd have to do just that.

"So what have you two been doing for the past few days?" Ren recalled that Team JNPR hadn't asked much about his new friendship.

"The night we went out together…" Jaune closed his eyes. "She took me to a bar. We got some drinks, danced a bit, forgot the time, crashed at my family's apartment. Since then… it's been a mix of simple small talk and a bit of deep conversation here and there."

It was a truthful response, but it also sounded just like any relationship given enough time. No, there was something else. Ren was sure of it now.

"Jaune… what aren't you telling me?"

Jaune now covered his face with both his hands, letting out a groan. Yes, he was hiding something, and if Ren had to guess, it was something that was important. What could the two of them have in common that they would not reveal to their friends? If Jaune wasn't spilling the beans, then it was most likely the case that Yang was keeping a tighter lid on her mouth.

"I can't." Jaune sat up. "I don't think it's the right time. Frankly, I don't even know if it even matters as much as I think it does."

"That what matters?" Ren leaned a bit closer.

"Ren, I love you like a brother, but I don't know how I can explain it to you. I'm having a hard time trying to explain it to myself."

Ren opened his mouth to try a different method of coaxing the information from Jaune. Then he thought of something better. This was new and uncharted territory for Jaune. It would seem that even so, Jaune intended to see this one through himself. Or rather, he intended to see this through with Yang. Maybe this was something that the green-clad boy couldn't help with even if he tried.

And Jaune wasn't lying when he said he couldn't explain it himself.

"Well what can you tell me then, Jaune? Or what do you want to tell me?"

"Nothing, but there is one thing I could use your help with." Jaune got up and began to pace. "I've been noticing that Pyrrha's been a bit more… edgy lately. Is that just me?"

No, it definitely wasn't him. Both Ren and Nora had seen it. How could they not see it? When an ignorant Jaune was being friendly with Yang, regardless of the nature of the relationship, Pyrrha always didn't like it.

"Don't worry about Pyrrha." Ren assured Jaune. "She's just worried that this thing between you and Yang's going to cause problems for both teams."

"I promise that they won't." Jaune's eyes narrowed. "I can handle my responsibilities and relationships just fine."

"I'll tell her that." Ren affirmed. "So where are you headed now?"

"For some air." Jaune answered. "Maybe a good jog is in order. I just need some time think about what I can and want to do."

"I'll be here if you need me." Ren offered.

"Thanks for listening Ren."

"Anytime, Jaune."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

They both opened and closed their doors at the same time. Then they both came face-to-face with each other.

Really close. Mere inches were all that stood between them.

They didn't breathe for a moment as she wasn't expecting to face him this very moment while he didn't expect to face her at all today.

"Um… hi." Jaune managed to say weakly.

"Hey." Yang looked just as bashful as he did.

"Wait, you're talking to me now?" Jaune looked interested. "What did I do wrong?"

"What? No, you didn't do anything wrong, Jaune." Yang quickly responded. "I've been…"

"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere private?" He suggested.

"Yes, that would be nice." She nodded for him to lead.

Since it was still daytime outside, and students were out and about, they settled for the cliff that overlooked the Emerald Forest. Both took a seat at the edge. Yang dangled her legs while Jaune crossed his.

The day was mostly sunny with only a few clouds dotted here and there. The Emerald Forest still looked beautiful even if there were Grimm lurking down there. Green for as far as the eye could see. Oh, it would be nice if the scenery was the only thing they came here for. Alas it was not so.

"So why didn't you talk to me if I didn't do anything wrong?" He sounded hurt and that made her heart sink lower.

"Well, you remember that fight in Goodwitch's class?" She blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"How could I not?" He felt his gloved hands press against the rocks of the cliff as he leaned his weight against his arms. "That was the most intense fight I've had in, well, maybe ever."

"Me too." Yang agreed. "But there was more. I felt like… like I knew how to fight you and beat you-"

"As if it were as natural as breathing?" Jaune seemed to concluded her thought. "The feeling that we've fought before and know how to respond to each other?"

"Yeah, exactly like that." She laughed out loud as another thought entered her mind. "Jeez, we almost sound like one of those cliché stories about two people who know each other inside and out. Romantic stories like to use that as a convenient way to make people fall in love."

"And yet we're talking about it." He put his hands in his lap. "Does that make it better or worse?"

"Dunno." Yang did a shrug. "It's not like this is a story. This is real life. Right here. Right now. I'm not letting a book tell me how to live life."

"Hmm." Jaune felt his eyes linger on her.

"What?" Yang stared at him. "You don't believe me?"

"Well, all stories have a bit of truth, even the most outlandish ones. They had to start from somewhere, after all."

"Yeah, I guess so. But they're just stories."

"I guess so."

Their eyes were locked onto each other. They both gave each other timid smiles. Yeah, it was just a story. No way did it relate to them like this. Absolutely no way.

They both turned away from each other abruptly. Yang felt herself playing with a few strands of hair. Jaune fidgeted with his gloved hands.

 _What the hell is wrong with you?_ Yang bit her tongue. _It was just a simple comment._

 _Well… that went… horribly wrong._ Jaune felt a surge of alarm. _I didn't mean it like that._

The silence was distressing, but the two of them were more preoccupied with their internal thoughts than with each other's presence. So now they sat there, looking off into the distance, into their laps, into the Emerald Forest, anyplace other than the person that was right beside them.

They both shifted unknowingly, and in doing so, their hands brushed together. This caused them both to jump slightly as they turned to see how close they had shifted to each other. Both of them then looked to each other.

Then back to their closeness.

Then back to each other.

"Monty Oum, what's wrong with us?" Yang made a disgusted sound.

"I don't know." Jaune voiced. "I really don't know."

"I wish you had an answer." Yang felt her frustration again. "It would be good to have one right about now."

"Oh, if only." Jaune's voice sounded regretful.

Yang found him staring at the edge of the cliff. He didn't have an answer. She didn't have an answer.

But it wasn't his words that moved her to do something. It was his tone; he sounded like he wanted an answer for more than himself, and Yang could take three guesses as to who he wanted it for.

So it was with a renewed sense of understanding that she moved to grab his hand with hers and to squeeze it tightly. He looked afraid.

"Your team wanted answers." She conveyed what she thought to be true. "So did mine."

"Yes." One word.

"And neither of us have one."

"Yes."

"Well, at least we're not alone in our ignorance."

"...at least there's that..."

They were without a doubt unclear about a great number of things. They were two teenagers with friend problems. They were two teenagers who were having sex with each other and yet not in a relationship. They were two teenagers who didn't want to face their friends with this friendship of theirs.

Neither Jaune nor Yang spoke anymore. They didn't have anything worth talking about nor did they feel like trying to make up for the awkward silence that filled the space between them. So they turned away from each other again.

Only their hands remained joined. Tightly so.

Neither commented on it, and yet they were both fully aware of it.

* * *

 **Two weeks and six days. Cut the uploading time in half. It feels good. I was worried about how long this was going to take, but I found it in me to get it done.**

 **I don't have much to say. If you payed attention, then you should see what this chapter does for the story.**

 **So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Meh? Reviews are most appreciated. The numbers for this story are astonishing to me. Simply astonishing. Thanks to all readers!**

 **Thanks to Operator Blake and Trance Sephiroth** **for working on this chapter. Their feedback has helped to give this story a more refined feel and complete feel.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."**_

 **Aristotle**

 **Peace!**


	10. Ch 10: Cookie Cutter

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 10: Cookie Cutter

 **Beacon Academy**

 **The next day…**

Jaune and Yang were back on talking terms.

That was supposed to be a good thing.

They talked, but it felt… awkward, for lack of a better term.

If Blake didn't know any better, she'd say that the two of them were dancing around a really big issue.

Like liking each other.

The signs were there as far as she could tell. Awkward eye contact, nervousness in close proximity, and staring when the other wasn't looking just to name a few signs.

It was a bit of thing that she got from the books that she read. She wished everyone would stop calling it smut. It was artistic literature; how on Remnant didn't any of them understand that?

Getting back on track, that's what she could interpret from all the books that she'd read. It was a bad habit, she knew, to be using books as a guide to real life. The Faunus girl was a firm believer in facts and reality. That's how she'd been trained in the White Fang.

Yet she still read fiction.

She desired a better world, like the ones written in fairytales

She desired her own happiness.

Hypocritical much?

That wasn't all.

What that also meant however, was that she was trusting things that were made up in someone's mind because she lacked the very experience she was reading about.

So if she didn't even know how to handle events in her own life with certainty, tempered by her experiences, who was she to be judging Yang and Jaune? Who was she to stick her nose in their business? Who was she to tell them what to do?

Blake wanted to say that she was doing this to make sure that nothing wrong was going on between the two blondes. Knowing them, there were multiple ways things could go awry. They were a stark contrast, enough so that it baffled the Faunus girl how Yang hadn't put Jaune in the emergency room or how Jaune hadn't made Yang fall dead from boredom.

Yang was outgoing, Jaune was awkward. Yang was a go-getter, Jaune aired on the side of caution. Yang was lively, Jaune was quirky. The list of differences could go on, but nobody needed the list. It seemed straightforward.

Jaune and Yang weren't going to work out.

Then again, Blake was Yang's opposite as well.

Once again, hypocritical.

Blake didn't want to keep fumbling. She wanted to find out the truth.

That's why she initially joined with Pyrrha, but seeing the subtleties of the two blondes' relationship made the Faunus girl reconsider exactly what she was doing. She still wanted to know what was going on between them, but now for different reasons.

Although not driven by all the same reasons as Pyrrha, Blake didn't need the whole picture to see what Pyrrha was secretly afraid of happening.

It was a laughable sort of thing to expect from the two of them. Adding to the list of differences, Yang wasn't Jaune's type, and vice versa. It wasn't just that they weren't each other's type; there just wasn't any sort of chemistry between them.

Jaune was a punching bag and Yang was the person punching him for fun. It might be a cruel comparison, but it was the truth. Jaune had this sort of stubborn rule to not resort to anger, even if he and Yang weren't friends. It must be a drag, Blake thought, holding back who he really was, unless that was his true nature.

Yang got kicks out of Jaune, thankfully not in the literal sense. Besides, apart from a few interactions, Blake recalled that the blonde girl hadn't even tried to form a serious relationship with him.

So why now of all times? What had changed between Yang and Jaune that would make them different towards each other?

Blake then had another thought.

She was attempting to come up with every reason for the two of them to not be friends or romantically involved, but never had she considered if it might actually be a good thing that Yang and Jaune were friends or lovers or both. Would it be such a bad thing if, by some miracle, fluke, or mistake, the two of them became a couple? Would it be so wrong for Jaune and Yang to become that?

Romance stories often told of love that wasn't meant to be in many people's eyes, but yet still happened.

She chewed on her lip, pulling herself back into the real world. All this processing of events aside, she had another problem to deal with.

Blake stared at her scroll. Her screen was displaying the messaging app and her cursor was blinking. If she were to type a message, the recipient would be Pyrrha.

She'd been staring at it for a long time. She didn't want to resort to spying. It felt wrong, just like some of her White Fang dealings felt wrong. If she did it once, who's to say that she wouldn't be willing to resort to more unpalatable methods? That cycle was one that was hard to break.

She wasn't sure if she could handle it, even if it was applied to something relatively harmless like this. Especially when it came to friends.

 _Damn you Jaune and Yang for making our lives so difficult._ If she had voiced this thought, she'd be growling. _What are you two hiding?_

"If you keep staring at your scroll like that, you're bound to melt a hole through it." Weiss sat next to Blake. "And since when were you and Pyrrha talking?"

"I wasn't talking to her." Blake shut off her scroll, putting it back in her pocket. "I was just fiddling around. I'm feeling kinda antsy right now."

"You? Antsy? That's a word I would never associate you to with." The heiress braced herself as Zwei jumped onto her lap. "Hello there, boy! Who's a good boy?"

Blake moved away slightly. "Yeeaaaaah… well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?"

"But when that first time happens, it leaves me questioning how there was even a first time at all." Weiss continued to pat Zwei. "Blake, I'm not blind. I know that you're worried about Yang, what her relationship with Jaune is."

"Was I really that obvious?" The question was part serious, part sarcastic. "I mean, yeah it's Yang, my partner, the sister I never had. Why should I care?"

"We're all sisters in arms. Don't forget that." It was the stern tone that got Blake's attention. "You got that?"

"Sorry. I forget that sometimes." Blake tried to play it off. "So what's your take on all of this? Them being friends and all?"

"If you'd asked me that question a few months ago, I'd say something's astray." Weiss placed Zwei back on the ground. "But that's just instinct talking; who am I to tell them what to do?"

"You don't sound too bothered by it." Blake search Weiss for any signs of disapproval. "I thought you might have something to say about it."

"As far as I can see," Weiss sighed and stared at her nails. "There's no real problem yet, so who am I to tell them what to do?"

"And the awkwardness between them?"

"Blake, you've yet to see what really awkwardness is like. Trust me, Jaune and Yang will get over it."

"So nothing at all bothers you about any of it?" Blake stretched her arms over her head. "Don't you care about team cohesion?"

"As I've said, they've worked it out, and I trust that the two of them will do their best to resolve the issue." Weiss shrugged in a rare gesture of uncaring. "Blake why are you so focused on this?"

To see Weiss so unconcerned, it triggered a calming effect on Blake. Maybe she was worrying too much about things that ultimately weren't going to ruin anyone's life, at least not that she could see.

"You truly believe that?"

"Believe what? That they're fine. I do, for now at least. Why, you don't?"

"… I don't know."

What was more important to Blake: worrying about something that may not have much consequence or putting trust into her partner and the leader of Team JNPR?

No, she didn't know.

But maybe everyone else did know.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Pyrrha could hear Nora in the background, going on and on about how Ren wasn't paying enough attention to her, and how she really wanted to sock him in places that shouldn't be socked.

The spartan wasn't actually listening in that moment, but she knew from experience that this conversation was inevitable. Whenever the girls were alone, and the guys were out, Nora could launch into quite a tirade about Ren's obliviousness.

Pyrrha had no reason to complain because she felt Nora's pain. Jaune ignored her romantic overtures, no matter how hard she tried to get his attention. It was truly an atrocious thing, the first boy she had an interest in and he ignores her, even when no other girl cares for his advances.

 _Except maybe Yang._ Pyrrha sounded like she was just conceding to this fact. _Should I even be surprised that I'm never going to be seen like that to him?_

"PYRRHA!" Nora's face was only centimeters away, and it worked to momentarily shock the spartan warrior.

With wide eyes, Pyrrha blurted out the first words she could think of. "I'm okay! I'm fine! I'm not drifting off!"

"You're a terrible liar, Pyrrha." Nora wagged her finger. "You might be able to hide things, but you can't lie."

Pyrrha opened her mouth, looking comical for five seconds, then returned to normal, having nothing to say in rebuttal to Nora.

"You got me."

"HA!"

Nora bounced around the room at incredibly inhuman speeds. A blur here, a blur there, and total chaos all around. Pyrrha made a mental note to check on Nora's sugar intake starting with the copious amounts of syrup that she poured onto Jaune's pancakes. Maybe looking into how her team leader made the pancakes would be a good idea too.

Still, with an expert eye, she grabbed Nora, and held her still. The shorter girl flailed around for a bit before returning to normal, or as normal as one like Nora could get.

"Now how about we start over again?" Pyrrha sat Nora down firmly, yet gently. "What were you saying?"

"What was I saying?" Nora looked lost for the briefest of times. "Wait, I remember! I was saying that I should be thankful that Ren doesn't even talk to any other girls besides you and me, at least not enough to have a relationship of any kind."

"There is that." Pyrrha smiled. "If only Jaune would be like that too."

"Worried that there's more going on with Yang?" Nora jumped back to her feet. "I know this has to be bugging you in some way!"

"It's bugging me in a lot of ways." Pyrrha's fingers lightly brushed against her bedsheets. "It shouldn't though. I don't have the right to tell Jaune whom to pursue."

"If that's the case, then why bother worrying?" Nora tilted her head to the right. "Shouldn't you just say 'Good luck?'"

"I…" That was a fair point, but fair or not, she wasn't ready to give up. "It just doesn't make sense. I've been there for Jaune ever since we came to Beacon, and now Yang comes into the equation and seemingly acquires his friendship instantly."

"You know that's not how it works, Pyrrha." Nora made a face. "Just stop and think about this for a second."

"Is this experience talking?" Pyrrha let herself relax into a lazy leaning position. "Or is this something else?"

"Experience, duh. Look at me and Ren." Nora looked amazed at Pyrrha, even frustrated. "Friends since childhood? Ring a bell?"

"Sorry. I forget that sometimes." Pyrrha shook her head.

"And besides, if you really want to pursue Jaune, isn't it a good idea to actually actively try and make that relationship happen?"

"I was thinking that it was the guy who made the first move." Pyrrha replied. "I thought that's how it worked."

"Pyrrha, it's Jaune." Nora took ahold of Pyrrha's shoulders. "Wake up! He ain't gonna make the first move! You should know that."

"Touché." What else could she say? "But can't I hope?"

Besides something of desperation.

Pyrrha closed her mouth when she got a look at Nora's stern expression.

"Why did you fall in love with Jaune to begin with?" Nora swept some hair out of her eyes. "What's that brain of yours telling you?"

"I developed feelings for Jaune because…" Pyrrha thought about it a moment. "...because he was my first friend, the person who knew me as Pyrrha Nikos, just another girl in life."

Pyrrha looked Nora in the eyes, and the bubbly bomber motioned for her to continue.

"I can have a conversation with him that's not about my career, my championships, everything that the media says about me. I know that it might not sound like much, but coming from a person who had virtually no friends to begin with, it was enough for me. It gave me a happiness that I hadn't felt in a long time."

"Yeah, I guess I can get behind that." Nora still didn't look satisfied. "I guess…"

"You sound like you were expecting more." A queer look settled on Pyrrha's face. "Were you expecting more, Nora?"

Nora looked at the floor as she thought about Pyrrha's response. The seconds crept by sluggishly as she did, and to Pyrrha, it was the worst feeling. The fact that Nora had nothing to say, positive or negative, wasn't helping.

"Well, when you're friends with someone, or you love them, or whatever," Nora explained, "You know things about them, do things with them, trust them with secrets. Talking is good, but you've got to talk about the right things. You got me?"

"Jaune and I train." Pyrrha found her voice. "He trusted me first with the secret about his falsified transcripts. I'm trying to help him become a better huntsman. Isn't that a start?"

"Aha!" Nora lightly booped Pyrrha's nose. "There's the problem! The relationship isn't mutual."

"Come again?" Pyrrha tried not to pay attention to the finger in her face.

"You know stuff about him, but he doesn't know anything about you really." Nora began pointing in random directions. "And training is what everyone does in Beacon. It's not unique to you two. And not to mention that you are a bit, uh... overprotective."

"What… what are you saying, Nora?" Pyrrha felt that she already knew the answer.

"Beyond your partnership with Jaune and besides a few sticky situations, neither of you really know each other well." Nora looked unhappy about having to explain it. "Come on, Pyrrha. Keep up."

Pyrrha felt her lips quiver a bit. "I… never considered that."

"That doesn't mean all is lost." Nora did a light smack to Pyrrha's cheek. "If you really want Jaune badly, then talk to him more. Get to know him more. You're friends, that's true, but now it's time to take the next step."

"But… how?"

"For starters, talk more." Nora bounced to the door. "See what you two have in common. You know, talk about family history, what you guys can bond over, that sort of thing? Get it?"

No, apparently, Pyrrha didn't get it.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"I don't know, Ruby." Yang held her head in her hands, breathing deeply. "We talked, but now I feel more confused."

"Well, maybe you're overthinking this too much." Ruby chimed in with her solution. "Sometimes Yang, you've got to stop thinking so complicated and look to the things that are simple."

"Why do I get the feeling I've heard that somewhere?" Yang lifted her head up. "Sounds like something I heard from a movie. Or maybe some old person told me that."

"Can you just take what I say and roll with it?" Ruby put a hand on Yang's shoulder. "I'm trying to help here."

"And I'm thankful." Yang smiled and let her hand fall onto Ruby's.

"No you're not." Ruby playfully smacked Yang. "Otherwise you'd do as I say."

"I'm your older sister." Yang pointed out. "You do what I say."

"And I'm your team leader." Ruby retaliated. "You do what I say."

"When you can beat me in fair combat," Yang lightly flicked a bit of Ruby's hair, "Then we'll talk about me following."

"Don't underestimate me, big sis." Ruby gave her best evil look. "I'll bite you where you least expect it."

"As long as my face is kept intact." Yang mock-shielded herself. "I need it to keep the boys coming."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh at me, why don't ya? One of these days Yang, the boys will be looking my way."

Two sisters grinned like idiots at each other. They could look like the most ridiculous people in the world and neither of them could care in the least.

"When that day comes, they're gonna get it." Yang wrapped a protective arm around Ruby. "I'll be there to ward them off."

"But in all seriousness." Ruby slipped from Yang's arms. "What are you going to do about Jaune?"

"What a buzzkill." Yang separated from Ruby with a pout.

"Yang?" Ruby demanded pointedly.

Yang's lips were only slightly open, but the blonde was certain that Ruby could see her clenched teeth. So much to think about, so much to consider, and so much to decide.

 _I wish Jaune was here._

No, wait, she didn't wish he was here. He'd just make things worse. Damn Jaune and his… being Jaune.

"Do you already know the answer and don't want to admit it?" Ruby's question only made Yang bristle.

"Ruby" Yang's heartbeats accelerated slightly. "Don't."

A look of realization crossed Ruby's face.

"Are you crushing on Jaune?"

"DON'T!" Yang shouted.

"What's wrong with that?" Ruby gave a noogie to Yang. "C'mon it's cute."

"First off, it's only been a week since I've gotten to really know him." Yang pushed Ruby away. "Second, I don't crush on anyone. And third, it's Jaune."

"And what's that suppose to mean?" Ruby sounded like she could become hostile with the wrong words. "'It's Jaune?' What does that mean?"

"Jaune's…" Yang tried to look for the words to say. "He's… look I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Ruby glowered. "Something bad about him?"

"It's between me and him." Yang looked around them. "I'd rather not talk about it unless he was here and said yes."

"Secrets already." Ruby switched to an amused now. "Man, you guys are serious."

"No, we're not." Yang fought back a roar of anger. "Look, that's not it, okay?"

"Alright, alright." Ruby fought back her giggles. "Don't get your smock in a bunch. I'm just messing with you."

"If you were anyone else, Ruby, I'd clobber you."

"That's why I do it, because I can."

"ANYWAY," Yang drawled out, "The point is that there's no hard feelings, but now we don't know what to do now."

Ruby settled down into her spot on the bench and held her head against her hands. This looked like one of her thinking modes if Yang had to guess. The silver eyes closed, remained so for some time, then opened again.

"Okay, if you want an idea, I've got one."

"What is it?"

"Take this." Ruby reached into one of her pockets. "This will most definitely solve your problem."

A crumpled piece of paper was all that Ruby gave to Yang. The blonde took it, regarding it with caution. After unfolding it, its contents were made clear.

Yang looked surprised.

"This?" Yang's jaw hung loose. "Why?"

"Because it will work."

"Are you sure about this, Ruby?"

"I'm sure, Yang. I'm sure. Look, at the very least, it'll break the ice, get you two going again, but knowing Jaune, I'm sure he'll take it."

If there was ever a time that the two of them were going to get serious, it was about this, because Ruby was now entrusting Yang with one of her most valuable things. Only once had Yang been allowed to see it, and honestly, she thought that she'd never see it again.

But if there was one thing that Ruby was right about, it was that this was going to work, no problem. Yang would stake her own life on it.

All she had to do was follow the instructions.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune maintained his jogging pace as he circled around the tower again. This was his seventh lap, and he wasn't feeling any sort of exhaustion. He was getting better at this endurance training.

He wasn't pushing it though, far from it. While was he was paying attention to what was in front of him, whenever he could, his thoughts wandered.

He'd messed up. Really badly.

The situation had definitely improved, but there was still something wrong. It was like he couldn't look Yang in the eye and have a proper conversation with her anymore. Knowing that she too felt the same way didn't really make him feel better. If neither of them could talk like this, then a friendship was going to be tough under any circumstance.

It wasn't like he wanted to avoid the issue, but with the lack of knowledge of how to deal with the situation he was in, avoiding it was so tempting.

That thought was obliterated before it could take root, which left him at a loss.

Jaune was many things, but he was no lady's man. That hadn't stopped him from trying though. It was strange to think that there were so many attractive girls at Beacon and yet he'd settled for Weiss first. In retrospect, he might've been smitten with her because she seemed so unattainable.

 _And isn't it like me to reach for something I can't have?_ Jaune really had been more and more sarcastic over the past week.

But Weiss was the past.

For better or for worse, he was attached to Yang now. Seeing as the two of them shared a physical relationship, it felt wrong to him to be looking at other girls. It was his old-fashioned side talking for sure, even though he'd already had sex before he'd gotten married. Even if they weren't committed emotionally, Jaune couldn't bring himself to think about any other girl apart from Yang.

It would feel like a betrayal, something he would never do to his friends. Especially the one which he shared a close relationship with.

A slight buzzing in his pocket caused him to slow his pace. Coming to a complete stop, he reached for his scroll. When he opened his screen to see who was calling him, he was very surprised to see that it was his twin sister.

Then he realized what this call was. Like he'd told Yang before, he hadn't let his sisters know that he was attending Beacon. His parents said he'd have to deal with the fallout that was going to happen when they found out.

Why had they taken so long to figure it out? Or was there something else going on?

"Joan." Jaune instantly answered the call.

"Jaune." Her voice made him smile.

"What's up?" Jaune felt a bit of nerves get to him. "Not that I don't appreciate the call, but I thought you were-"

"Why did you leave home?" That tone was one of someone speaking from a very hurt position.

He had to choose his next words carefully. Very carefully.

That wouldn't stop him from standing up for what he believed.

Courage. He was learning that more and more.

"You know why." Jaune didn't need to spell out what he meant.

"Jaune, we've had this discussion before." Joan pushed her bangs aside. "Let's not be children here. So I ask again. Why?"

For the first time, Joan looked directly at the screen, seeing his sister sitting at her desk at home, her and Jaune's shared room visible. It made him think of all the things he missed at home, the things that he was comfortable and familiar with.

His father's cooking, his mother's musical voice, his sister's rowdiness, all things he missed so much.

Joan's blue eyes became visible again as he pulled out of the memories. "You know why we didn't want you going, Jaune."

Jaune frowned. "You didn't think I could do it."

"That's not it." Her voice was defensive. "We were just trying to make sure that you weren't going to get yourself killed. We wanted you to be safe."

"And there's the problem." He sighed. "When you don't let me choose, I'll never get to live my life to the fullest."

"Jaune, have you seen the scars that father has? There's a reason he didn't want you going, you're his only son."

"Yet he wishes me a happy life." The boy almost scoffed. "If he wants me to be happy, then he'll let me choose my life and let me deal with the consequences."

"Don't you get it? It's not about you."

"Then what is this about?"

It might be understating the problem, but this back and forth conversation was a game. Jaune hated it because he knew that sooner or later, someone was going to say something they would regret. No amount of reason was ever going to convince Joan, or anyone in the family that this was the life for him, the life he wanted in spite of everything that came with it.

They loved him so much and yet couldn't trust him enough to become a huntsman. They said that what training he did have wasn't going to suffice, and he'd agree with them on that part. Yet here he was, a student just like many other kids. Not the best, but no longer as bad.

That had to count for something.

"Jaune, what do you think would happen if you died?" Her bringing that up was something Jaune knew to expect. "How do you think we'd all react?"

"What, so Scarlett can be a huntress, but I can't?" There was point to be made, and he was going to make it. "Tell me how that works."

"That is different." Joan didn't back down.

No, Jaune didn't believe it was any different. He knew this to be fact because there was only one son and brother in his family, and as a result, he was babied.

"Look, if you want to debate about my decision to come to Beacon, then at least wait until spring break." Jaune couldn't care less if he was begging. "I'm not having this conversation on a scroll call, okay? It's not the right time or place."

"...fine, but the next time that you're home, you will talk to all of us."

She hung up before he even got a chance to say goodbye.

 _I'm sorry, Joan, but this is who I am. I don't need to be a hero. I want to be a hero. I will become one. If I have to make mistakes and fall down and get hurt, then so be it._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune had a forlorn look on his face all the way back to the dorms. When his teammates asked about it, he told them what happened. They instantly moved to cheer him up. Pyrrha offered words of support, Nora provided an energy boost, and Ren tried to keep him from being overwhelmed.

He'd felt better after his team's pick-me-up.

He didn't see RWBY for the day though, mostly due to his team keeping him occupied. It felt good to have a second family that actually supported him and encouraged him.

The rest of the day was spent working on assignments, training, and all the usual fun on the weekend, though Jaune did note that Pyrrha seemed to look at him very strangely, like she was trying to disassemble him piece by piece to figure out something.

He didn't pry though. He had a feeling that it wasn't for him to know.

Instead of eating in the cafeteria, JNPR took their food into their dorm and ate all the while discussing plans for the upcoming week, which wasn't very much to begin with. Just the usual assignments, the usual classes, maybe a few more exchange students, nothing that they hadn't seen before.

Jaune wasn't sure when it happened, but soon, it was nighttime and they were all dead asleep.

It was some time later when he awoke. It was dark out, and there was still another eight hours before he needed to be getting ready for class.

The blonde heard a light growl, and he reached for his stomach. It would seem that he hadn't had his fill of food.

A midnight snack was in order.

Carefully making sure he was dressed appropriately, he quietly slipped out, waiting a moment to make sure his teammates weren't following him, then headed for the cafeteria. No one was out, and it was long past curfew time.

But if one knew Beacon well enough, one would be able to walk about like it was daytime on school grounds. The reason Jaune knew this was because Ren was often about at these times, and the only reason he did that, was because of Nora's obsession with pancakes.

After hearing about that, Jaune didn't need any further explanation, and just accepted that in the event that Ren wasn't there to attend to Nora, either he or Pyrrha had to make sure she didn't go crazy from pancake withdrawal.

That sounded even weirder when he said it in his head.

It really hadn't occurred to Jaune that he could be using this info to his own advantage as well, at least not until late into the first semester when he was studying for finals so much that he neglected to eat at meal times. Then he was hungry at night just like he was now.

Keeping to the shadows and trying to recall some of Ren's moves and tricks, Jaune slowly made his way to the cafeteria. He opened and closed the doors without so much as a whisper of wind coming through.

He wasn't expecting anyone else to be there. It was also because he was tired as well that he failed to see the dim light that came from within the kitchen as he entered.

 _There's Yang._ His mind registered the presence.

…

 _Wait… there's Yang._

It was this moment of realization that prevented him from making any more noise. She hadn't yet spotted him standing in the doorway with the door still being held open by his hand. She continued to work on what she was doing.

The lighting could be better, but Jaune was still able make out Yang working with a bowl of something. She was mixing it contents vigorously. On a nearby table, there sat a tray of what looked like cookies, and if he had to guess, freshly-baked too, judging by the smell coming from them. There was another tray, but this one topped with something pinkish-red. Was that frosting?

Confusing? Just a bit.

"Yang?"

She whipped around to face him, and if her expression was anything to go by, she wasn't expecting anyone, especially not him. He might even say that this was the most scared he'd ever seen Yang. Not even during their fight when he had the advantage, did she look this scared.

"Jaune!"

Yep, he'd definitely caught her in the act so to speak.

Jaune wasn't quite sure what to think now. For one thing, he wasn't sure why Yang felt that him catching her like this was such a bad thing. Who didn't like cookies? Better yet, who didn't like the ability to make cookies?

 _Take it slow, Jaune. No sudden moves. No jokes. Just be yourself. Get through this, and maybe you'll still have a relationship._

So he moved to stand near to her. She looked even more frightened now that he was up close.

"Did you make these, Yang?"

"...yeah." She looked ashamed. "I did."

"For who?"

"W-what?"

"Who did you make these for?"

If there was ever a time for a first time, this was it. In the week and two days of their changed relationship, she had never once shown obvious signs of hesitation or conflict. Most of the time with her, it was an easy, straightforward answer. That was something the two of them seemed to do with each other quite well.

This was the first time she hesitated to speak the truth.

But they had an agreement with each other to be honest, and Yang remembered that well "They're for… you."

"...me?!"

"Yes."

All at once, their entire situation became clear to him. She must feel as awkward as he did concerning what had to be the unspoken things between them. She was the first to take a chance and do something for him.

Something that he didn't feel that he deserved.

"I can't take this Yang." He shied away. "I-"

"Yes you can." She looked hurt.

"No, I can't." He shook his head violently.

"Yes, you can." She was now glaring daggers.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang set down the bowl of frosting and reached for a finished cookie. She wasn't about to be denied, not when she knew had much to lose if their relationship didn't continue. She was in too deep now to just back down.

She tried to shove the cookie into his mouth. Once he knew the taste, there was no way he was going to deny her.

Her cookie didn't reach his mouth; he moved his head to try and stop her, and in the process, she smashed the cookie against his right cheek. He looked startled, and so too did she. Withdrawing her hand, she looked absolutely appalled at what she did.

As she drew back, she blinked, then saw Jaune again, but this time with a complete mess on his face, still wearing his look of surprise.

She held her breath, waiting for him to do something, anything. His silence wasn't a pleasant thing.

Then he laughed.

Now she looked confused.

"Jaune?"

His response wasn't with words, but instead, he reached into the frosting bowl with his hand and with lightning-quick speed, he painted her face with the strawberry frosting.

The strangest part?

He wore this shit-eating grin.

Now he was laughing harder.

She realized what he did.

She'd just gotten creamed. Literally.

"Oh, it is so on, Vomit boy."

She grabbed a handful of frosting from the bowl, and moved to splatter him good. Jaune tried to shield himself, still laughing deeply, getting it some of it on his face and his arms. He tried to retaliate by thrashing his arm and flicking the frosting back to Yang. She ducked, still holding the bowl in her hands, she let her covered hand form into a fist. His hand found hers, and he swung her around before roughly flipping her onto her back.

He moved to straddle her and wrenched the bowl away, drenching her hair in the process. She spluttered and pushed him off. He might be having sex with her, but nobody messed with her hair and got away with it.

Nobody.

She moved to pin him to the ground, and with some effort, reached for another plain cookie.

"Now. Eat. It." She shoved it into his mouth quite gracelessly.

He made muffled sounds in return as he struggled to chew. He still had that look on him, the kind that she thought suited him in this moment. He took at least a minute to fully chew it.

"Well?"

"It was good."

"Just good? Not great? Not fantastic?"

He gazed at her, looking like a complete mess. Frosting in his face, in his hair, on his arms and body, and bits and pieces of cookie on his lips and cheek. She gazed at him, looking just as bad as he did. Apparently, her hands weren't the only thing that frosting got on.

He tried to get up, and she used her strength to keep him down, her hips swaying a bit in order to tease him.

"Ah ah ah." She moved so her body was parallel with his. "Didn't Ruby teach you anything about me, Jaune?"

"Never mess with the hair." He smiled weakly. "Too late for regrets."

"But it's not too late for punishment." Again, she intentionally moved her body in order to get his attention.

And it was working.

"This is so not fair, Yang." Jaune's protests were for naught.

"Too bad." She leaned so that his face was close to hers. "I like it when you're squirming under me."

His arms had moved to her back, and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. She didn't waste any time and responded to him. His kiss was light and fluffy. She followed up with the tone that he set.

What happened next occurred subconsciously. They'd moved from the floor to a counter. Yang found herself propped up on the edge of the nearby table as they continued to kiss. He tasted of the frosting. This combined with his soft lips made for a very enjoyable melding.

Then their lack of breathing made them pull apart eventually, though only by a small amount. Heavy breathing and panting, eyes beaming into one another, and hearts beating just a little bit faster.

"Yang, you didn't need to do this."

"But I did, Jaune."

"Why?"

"We didn't fully make up."

"So I guessed, though I thought we did."

"So did I, but we had that awkward phase, and I felt that I had to do something to make up for… it."

"Yang, never feel obligated to do anything for me."

"But I'm your friend, and that's what a true friend does: do things for their friends. And don't say it's your fault when I'm to blame too."

"Yang, you clearly don't know me well enough." Jaune slid his hands to his sides. "Have you ever known me to ask for anything in return?"

"...no." She couldn't recall a time like that. "I haven't."

"That doesn't mean I don't appreciate what you're doing." Jaune gestured to her work. "It means that as much as I like this, our bond is more important. I value our actual connection more than anything else."

"It's never that simple." Yang hands dug into the edge of the table. "You don't just say that. People give each other gifts. They do things for each other. They owe each other. You do something for each other in return."

"Yang, do you think I'm normal?"

If he asked that question a week ago, she would've no doubt answered with a definite yes. That was long gone; faced with the question now, she couldn't say for sure if he normal or not.

"I… don't know what you are, Jaune."

"… haven't we established this, Yang?"

"But we still don't have an answer." Yang exclaimed while raising her hands into the air. "Neither of us has a damn clue what we're doing. We don't know what we want from each other. We don't know where we're going. We don't even know ourselves what we want. It's not something you just know about. It's something that you-"

She stopped, as something clicked inside of her mind.

Jaune looked at her with that same look of realization.

"Figure out, learn from experience." Yang breathed. "Son of a bitch, when did I get so stupid?"

"When did we get stupid." Jaune corrected her.

"Okay, so maybe I wish this was easy." Yang settled down. "I mean, c'mon, don't you?"

"I get it, Yang, but do we need to know the answers now?" He lifted one hand to hold one of her hands. "It's been a week. Do you have any regrets?"

"It's had its ups and downs." Yang lit up slightly. "But I wouldn't take any of it back."

"And don't you think it's a little too early to be getting into the drama? Whatever happened to enjoying the moment?"

"Maybe, but I recall that it's best to be a big thinker too, know the big picture, plan ahead? Sound familiar?"

"Sure." He looked admittedly deflated. "I guess this is one time where I'm not thinking things through."

"Cut yourself some slack." Yang patted him on the shoulder. "It was good to talk about it. We should do that more."

"You think that'll work every time?" He asked.

"Better than ignoring each other." Yang shrugged. "Would you rather be yelled at and know the truth or not talk about at all and never know for sure?"

"I'd rather be yelled at."

"I thought so."

"No more awkwardness then."

"Ditto. Now help me eat these cookies."

"I thought you said they were for me." He pulled her closer.

"I made them." Yang put her hands to his chest. "I think I deserve a little bit of reward for my effort."

At this comment, Jaune picked up a cookie with frosting and held it up for Yang to chew on, and she did. It tasted delicious.

Then she saw Jaune eat the other end of the cookie. It was almost cheesy what he was attempting to do, but Yang realized that in spite of how much it was cheesy, she let it happen, even welcomed it.

It was a bit of an effort, but when there was no more cookie between them, they devoured each other's' lips.

"Too... romantic... for you?" Jaune asked in between lip locks.

"I'll... let it... slide... this once." Yang replied back between breaths. "And... don't you ever... tell anyone."

"Like I'm going to tell anyone about this?" Now that sounded like a smartass voice.

"Let's hope you keep secrets as good as you've been doing so far." Yang put a finger to his lips

"Can we just skip to the good part?" He sounded impatient. "Not to rush this along, but I kinda want to go to bed?"

"Boys." Yang chortled into their kiss. "So impatient."

* * *

 **Before I say anything, allow me to give my eternal thanks to all of the people who support this story. I've hit a huge milestone; I've gotten over 1,000 followers and 780 favorites for one story. That's a big first for me, and it'a all thanks to you readers.**

 **I take full responsibility for being lazy and having a bit of writer's block, but now I'm smiling like a moron at the results. As an author, I can say that if you're grinning at your own work, that's very good.**

 **Anyone feeling extremely sappy? I know I was, but don't think that just because they made up easily once means that it'll be that easy the next time around. Oh no.**

 **So what did you guys think? Romantic? Too romantic? It's so sweet I think I'll hurl? Not at all romantic? Let me know.**

 **A special thanks to my two beta readers,** **Operator Blake and  Trance Sephiroth for their help.**

 **A special new thanks to** **Makentsu , the cover artist.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation."**_

 **Michael Jackson**

 **Here's the link to the cover art.**

 **makentsu . deviantart art . com (SLASH) art (SLASH) Winter-Dragonslayer-630368720**

 **PEACE!**


	11. Ch 11: Survival of the Strangest

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 11: Survival of the Strangest

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Monday**

"Well, you're looking better, Jaune." Pyrrha took her seat along with the rest of Team JNPR. "That's good."

"Yeah." Jaune smiled very widely. "I'm feeling a lot better."

"Same with you Yang." Ruby glanced at her sister critically. "You're looking extra mischievous today."

"I'm having one of those days." Yang's wide grin didn't leave her face. "Ah the wonders of good moods."

"Not to ruin the good mood, Yang, but I've got to ask." Blake momentarily looked away from her book. "Did you do your homework? You were up awfully late last night."

"Which one?" Yang's grin persisted as the blonde looked at her partner.

"Dust chemistry." Weiss supplied apprehensively, weirded out by Yang's unusually happy mood. "You know, those thirty pages of reading?"

"You know, I should tell a chemistry joke right about now," Yang looked around at all of her friends. "but I don't think I'd get a reaction."

Everyone groaned as per the norm when Yang tried to be funny, save for Jaune, who snickered for only a moment. That, however, was long enough for Yang to notice, and leave everyone else perplexed. Usually, Jaune groaned at Yang's puns.

"You see?" Yang gestured at her fellow blonde. "Someone appreciates my good humor, and now I've got another reason to smile."

"Jaune, please don't encourage Yang." Ruby tried to shut Yang up. "If you do, then it'll make it worse for all of us."

"Sorry, Ruby." Jaune took a bite from his bagel. "But I don't think I want to ruin Yang's good mood. She just got it back."

"Truer words were never spoken." Yang put a hand to her chest. "A boy after my own heart."

Those words set everyone's gaze on both blondes. Yang didn't rush to say it was a joke and Jaune didn't deny what she'd said. It actually was a joke between the two, but instead of addressing it, the blondes only glanced at their friends before returning to their food.

"What?" Both Jaune and Yang asked.

"Nothing." All their friends answered before going back to their meals.

"Whatever dude and dudettes." Unnervingly, Yang's demeanor hadn't changed. "I'll talk to you, Jaune."

"Sure." Jaune looked like he couldn't care less. "What about?"

"Anyone new that you're crushing on?"

Blake perked up at this. Pyrrha tried to pretend she wasn't paying attention. Ruby was absolutely not trying to hide that she was. Nora grinned madly, Ren showed a slight interest and Weiss half-payed attention.

"Um, not really." Jaune actually sounded genuine. "Why?"

"Just asking." Yang leaned back coolly. Her cheshire grin was starting to become downright disturbing. "No special girl? Whatever happened to your precious snow angel?"

Weiss hissed her response to both blondes talking about her like she wasn't present at the table. They ignored her.

"Things changed." The Arc decided with a partial truth. "I grew up. I moved on."

"To whom?" The brawler didn't let up with her questions. The knight's deadpan look served to give one answer to their friends, but delivered another to the blazing beauty personally. "What? Gotta keep up on gossip. So spill, who's the next girl?"

Silence was his response, that and him casually returning to his food, unfazed. His silence could mean that he was invested in another girl, at least to their friends.

"So it's gonna be like that? Tsk, tsk." Yang demurred. "Alright, have it your way."

With him occupied by his food, he wasn't fast enough to stop her from swiping his eating utensils.

"Can I have those back please?" Jaune maintained a friendly tone. "It's going to be a long day. I need the energy."

"Then answer my question." Yang left no room for argument.

"You know I could get another set." Jaune motioned to the nearby rack of spoons, forks, and knifes.

"Then I'll take your food and eat it." Of course, Yang had a comeback. "Now spill. You did say you wanted me in a good mood."

"Yang, isn't that quite enough?" Pyrrha's request sounded strained. "Jaune clearly doesn't want to answer the question."

"It's fine, Pyrrha." Jaune waved for his partner to stand down. "And to answer your question Yang, there's-"

Just then, the bell rang, signaling everyone in the cafeteria to clear out and hustle to class. Jaune appeared to look very happy about this, and he rose from his seat with unusual swiftness.

"Well, that's our cue." Jaune picked up his tray. "Come on, JNPR. To class."

"Right behind you." Ren guided Nora.

"We'll see you guys in a few minutes." Pyrrha waved to RWBY, but eyed Yang suspiciously. "Blake, can we talk later?"

"Sure, Pyrrha." Blake answered with a short nod. "I'll message you when I'm ready."

Team RWBY cleared out a few minutes after JNPR, following their sister team's direction.

"So I guess that it's true." Ruby said out loud.

"That what's true?" Yang turned to her sister.

"That you're seriously cru-" Ruby didn't finish as a hand covered her mouth.

"What was that? You're breaking up?" Yang maintained a vice-like grip on Ruby's mouth. "Licking my hand won't make me let go, and what was that about, Blake?"

"What?" Blake looked confused.

"If you say what again, I swear." Yang bared her teeth. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't." Blake made a face. "Enlighten me."

"She means what's going on with you and Pyrrha?" Weiss made some final checks on her hair to make sure it was as orderly as possibly. "I've been meaning to ask you about that too."

"Pyrrha wanted my help with a secret project." Blake stopped everyone from asking more questions. "So don't ask, because I won't tell you. If we want to tell you guys, we will."

"MPPH!" Ruby still hadn't broken from Yang's hold. "GHHFF THFF OAFF!"

"Ruby." Yang whispered into the Reaper's ear. "Remember a few years back?"

The leader of RWBY looked mortified, and understanding the ultimatum that was being issued, she slowly nodded her head and gave the most honest look possible. It was finally enough for her to be released.

"Don't ever mention that time."

"What time?" Blake and Weiss asked in unison.

"You don't need to know." Ruby stormed ahead.

"So seriously, Yang." Blake said. "Did you do the homework?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Now keep this in mind students." The voice of Professor Port boomed throughout the classroom. "The larger the Grimm, the more likely the chance that they've lived longer, and therefore have greater intelligence."

The sound that followed his words were a few pencil scratches and some snoring from students who'd long since checked out of the class mentally. A few of the braver ones were staring at their scrolls, not a care in the world. Some couldn't care less if they lost points for participation. No amount of grades was worth the boring torture of Professor Port and his lectures.

The only real reprieve from this boredom came in the form of live exercises with Grimm brought in from the Emerald Forest. That was the best thing that ever happened in class, and that was no exaggeration. It was something entertaining to watch, even if it only involved the easier Grimm species.

It was fun to watch, but it was even more fun to actually be doing the killing. That meant there was much enthusiasm to be the one involved. That was the one time the class could count on near-universal participation.

"With that being said, I will need two volunteers for this next exercise!" The Professor crisply gestured to the entire class. "Who would be willing?"

A wave of hands rose immediately.

"Ah! Mr. Arc, Ms. Xiao Long." The professor seemed more excited than usual. "Good! I've yet to see how you two perform in combat together."

Both blondes were eager to start doing something and their eagerness didn't go unnoticed by their teammates, or the whole class for that matter.

Their partners in particular were close paying attention now. Pyrrha looked slightly unhappy about Yang and Jaune working together while Blake's sharp gaze followed their every move, analyzing everything.

It didn't take the two of them long to change from their uniforms to their combat gear.

"Don't worry." Yang patted Jaune on the back. "If push comes to shove, you can always hide behind me, princess."

There were a few snickers from the assembled students. Jaune was expecting her to say something like that. He might've tied with Yang, but that was only a step towards proving that he could be a good huntsman.

Still, a jab back at her seemed warranted. "Then as the princess, I'll be sure to do the real work with my all-powerful aura when you run out of rounds."

There was a moment where everyone was bewildered by the blonde knight's smack talk. Not that Jaune wasn't capable of it, but it wasn't his style, especially with boys and girls that could wipe the floor with him.

It would seem that confidence was in great supply.

Yang only flashed him a grin of acknowledgement, but there was no further response from her. Jaune wasn't sure if that look on her face meant this discussion wasn't over or that she actually approved of his ability to keep up with her.

He'd assume both.

"Now you two!" Professor Port's voice snapped them back to attention. "You both carry skills into battle that are necessary!"

A finger pointed to Yang. "Yang Xiao Long, you're one of our best students in the class. Few students can beat your combat prowess!"

Then the finger moved to Jaune. "Jaune Arc, your ability to lead, strategize, plan, and adapt makes you a force to be reckoned with!"

Both blondes looked at each other. As much as the compliments made them swell with pride, something seemed off, like something was about to happen to them; it wasn't that the good professor didn't compliment his students often, but this sounded like…

"Both are necessary on the battlefield!" It was only sounding more dangerous by the second, something everyone seemed to be catching onto. "Especially when your numbers are in short supply."

"What did we sign up for Yang?" Jaune whispered to his temporary partner.

"Hey, you got me, Jaune." Yang replied back softly.

"You two are going to participate in something new to Grimm studies." Professor Port gestured to a door nearby. "Now stand in the center of the room!"

Glancing at each other in ever-growing trepidation, the two of them placed themselves where their good teacher would usually be. They couldn't help but feel a bit on edge and "trigger happy", so to speak. Jaune's grip on Crocea Mors tightened and Yang slowly cracked her knuckles.

"Good!" The senior huntsman nodded his head in approval. "Now don't move."

"Why?" Jaune asked, his expression beginning to turn into worry. "What are we even doing?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too." Yang raised a hand to show her support of her fellow blonde. "What's this new thing?"

"Let the horde test begin!" A button was pressed on the man's scroll.

All at once, the scenery around them changed. Dull grey around both of them. And they were really scrunched up together, enough so that they were really close to each other.

"The hell?" Yang's head spun all around. "What happened?"

"I… don't know." Jaune looked just as lost. "Professor Port did say we were testing something? Or is it..."

Then the sound of something beneath them told them exactly what they wished to know. The sound of jets firing beneath them.

"I had no idea Professor Port would be so cruel." Jaune just banged his head against the metal. "ROCKET LOCKER!"

"HE CAN DO THAT?" Yang asked out loud, trying to be heard over the noise.

There was no time for talk as both of them were flung into the atmosphere. The rattling all around them was intense. Jaune hated being confined to this damn thing.

 _Better hope we don't land far from the school._

A journey of about two minutes had them colliding with the ground once again. However, they didn't land right-side up. Instead, they were upside down. Jaune's first instinct was to fumble around for the controls to open the locker. Instead, his hands brushed against Yang.

"Aren't we getting touchy today?" Yang seemed strangely calm at his fumbling.

"Not now, Yang." Jaune responded. "Not until we get out."

A moment later, he found the controls, and the door was opened. Then he fell out of the locker, landing on his back.

Then Yang fell on top of him, and judging by how she fell, it wasn't like she had much control either.

They came face-to-face.

It was quiet, save for the steaming piece of flying metal.

"Ahem." Jaune cleared his throat.

Yang rose and checked herself over. "Right. Sorry."

"Can't believe our luck." Jaune did a check of himself. "And I can't even see Beacon from here."

"Must've gone really far." Yang did her own reasoning. "You think this was on purpose?"

"I'm dunno. In any case, time to start trekking."

"So where to, boss?"

"Boss?"

"You're a team leader. You get us somewhere. I'll keep an eye out from Grimm or whatever we're facing."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Why are you leaving this to me?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Because I said so."

"That's not… fine." He waved his hands in defeat. "We go this way."

"Into the forest?"

"Better cover from whatever we have to fight."

"See? This is why you're the team leader."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Seven minutes later…**

"So uh… where are the baddies?" Yang leaned against a tree. "I thought we were fighting Grimm."

Jaune ignored her complaining, simply scanning the rocks, bushes, trees and leaves, looking for signs of Grimm activity. He saw nothing, and though he didn't voice it, he was also getting a bit impatient by the lack of fighting.

"Have I ever told you about the time when I was a kid and I tried to find a turtle in the woods?" Jaune didn't face Yang as he spoke. "I painted his shell with different colors thinking he'd be easy to find. Turns out that turtles know how to hide well. I spent four hours looking for him, went right by his hiding spot at least ten times, maybe twenty."

"So what's your point?" She yawned, putting a hand to her mouth. "Sounds like something you'd normally do right now anyway."

"Grimm act like any natural animal." Jaune lifted a hand to his eyes, ignoring the joke at his expense. "That means they're bound to use their environment to their advantage whenever possible."

"Okay so we're being stalked by a really big turtle Grimm?" She still looked like she couldn't care less. "I can roll with that."

"Why do I even bother with you?" The knight shook his head in disgust. "Look, I'm worried, okay? We've been trekking for a while, long enough to have found Grimm by now."

"Ooooh, now I get it!" The brawler crossed her arms, still leaning against the tree she'd parked herself on. "You're worried we're walking into a trap."

"Something along those lines." He reached into his belt for his scroll. "Scroll's no help either. I can't get a fix on our location."

"Maybe it's designed that way." She reached for her own scroll, and as expected, her scroll told her what Jaune's already had. "Yep, no signal here either."

"Okay, we keep going then." Jaune pointed to a nearby hill. "We might be able to get a better view from over there."

"Your lead." Yang finally moved from her spot. "And let's hope the Grimm come soon."

The next few minutes passed in silence. Neither of them chose to make any conversation because they knew that they were likely being watched by Professor Port and the class. That, and the fact that their conversations were becoming a bit more personal guaranteed their silence.

"Over here, Yang."

Yang had hung back a bit in order to make sure that they weren't being tailed; so far, they hadn't.

She turned to see what Jaune wanted, only to be met with his arm held in front of her. She turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Shh. Don't. Move."

Looking down the hill, Yang saw what he was talking about, and she followed his instructions to the letter.

Down below, there was a gathering of Ursa Majors. All of them surpassed both huntsman and huntress in size. They seemed to be doing something together. They were all gathered in a circle, apparently interested in something that the two of them were unable to see.

Yang readied Ember Celica, but then Jaune forced her arms down.

"Not here." Jaune whispers were barely audible. "Back away. Slowly."

"Can't we just take them?" Yang tried her best to remain quiet, speaking just loud enough for him to hear. "I mean, there aren't that many."

"We won't be able kill them before one of them summons more Grimm." He put one hand on Crocea Mors. "We need a plan. This was unexpected."

Both blondes slowly and silently backed out of sight of the Ursa Majors, and just as they thought they were in the clear, the peace was shattered by the sound of something behind them. Both froze in place, not moving and trying to make sure they'd heard correctly.

It was a Beowolf.

Right behind them.

They turned their heads slightly to see that the black creature was indeed only meters behind them, stalking them like a cat would a mouse.

Then it leapt towards them.

Jaune's instinct kicked in, his shield went up. He waited for the right moment before using the flat of his defensive tool to forcefully change the path of the Beowolf before decapitating it in mid-flight.

Slicing off its head wasn't what made him realize that shit just got real. It was the ridiculously loud thump of its body hitting the ground that did it.

There was a pause, as if the whole world was holding its breath, then the sound of a howl cut through the air, echoing everywhere.

"I swear, it's like there's no such thing as a plan that doesn't go awry." Jaune grumbled. "For once, I'd like to see that not happen."

"We didn't quite have a plan yet." Yang put a hand on his shoulder. "And let's not forget that this is a test."

"Right." Jaune let go of his momentary anger. "Business as usual."

They kept their weapons drawn. The Beowolves were coming from the forest, and soon the Ursa Majors would be coming from the bottom of the hill. The sound of dozens of thunderous footsteps made a thunderous roar all around them, as if the ground itself was cracking and tearing itself apart.

Unconsciously, both Yang and Jaune met back to back, and without warning, both their auras began to flare. That served to only attract the Grimm.

"Don't know about you." Yang said, grinning madly. "But I'm living the dream."

"You have weird dreams." Jaune replied. "Not as weird as Nora's dreams, but still weird."

"You can tell me all about it later. Now, we fight."

Two Beowolves went for Jaune. His initial reaction was to use aura to project a field around both himself and Yang, all the while trying to make it as small as possible so he didn't waste any aura. He bit his lips, stood still and began to focus.

Yang glanced backwards, puzzled by Jaune's strange lack of movement, then all at once, the barrier exploded around them, causing the Grimm to stagger from the force of the energy. Seeing what he was doing, Yang sprang into action. She was able to take out three Beowolves in the first two seconds by delivering twin shots into one and two's heads then snapping the third's neck with her legs.

Jaune went in the opposite direction, impaling Grimm through their throats, causing instant death. He was able to accomplish this twice before he was forced to bring his shield to bear in order to keep their deadly claws from carving him up.

Pushing back, he narrowly avoided another swipe before cutting off the leg followed by a swift stab to the throat. Another tried tackle him, and he countered by intentionally dropping onto his back before holding his sword up and allowing the Grimm to split itself in half, passing through the space he once occupied. The two halves hit the ground and rolled down the hill.

Wait… down the hill…

The next Grimm to enter his sights was an Ursa, a very big one. It roared angrily and looked down at Jaune. Looking at the menacing head upside down didn't make it any less intimidating. Still, he wasn't going to lie down and die. He quickly moved his body, rolling out of reach of the large Grimm. The roars didn't stop as he was pursued. The entire time, he was spluttering heavily as he'd gotten grass and dirt into his nose and mouth.

With his head spinning, Jaune felt himself stop rolling, and got up as quickly as he could, only to see three Ursa barreling down the hill right towards him. He wasn't sure he was cut out for this; that one time in the Emerald Forest, that was pure luck that he did what he did, and some other strange force. Somehow, he'd blocked when he thought he hadn't.

Not the time to be daydreaming.

Jaune pulled his thoughts back, skidding back to avoid a stomp. He came up with an idea on the spot, and his body responded by charging. When he was within striking range of the Ursa Majors, he cloaked himself in his aura, while simultaneously tossing his shield to disorient the first one. He then he threw his sword, stabbing the second and delivered an aura enhanced punch to the third with enough force to leave a gaping hole in its chest. Before the body could fall, he'd already made his way to the second Ursa, ducked an overhand swipe and viciously ripped his sword out of its body, severing its spine in the process. He spun around and decapitated the still disoriented first Ursa, before reclaiming his shield and surveying his handiwork.

 _Wow, did I just do that?_ Jaune could scarcely believe what he'd just done. _I can't believe it worked!_

His victory was short-lived; there were still a lot of Grimm around, and Yang was up the hill dealing with her own horde.

No help for the lone swordsman.

A quick check of his aura levels.

Eighty percent.

That was a lot, and he thought he'd been wasteful.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Eat dust!" Yang pumped another round into her target.

Now this was fun, killing Grimm like this. Not only were there a lot of them, but they were also very eager to die. The buxom blonde was only more than happy to send them on their way.

No matter how difficult, it was still fun, and she wasn't one of the best for nothing. She'd adjust a bit to fit the situation at hand.

Using more aura, she powered her way through two more, sending them flying into trees. The sound was incredibly satisfying.

Two more circled her, keeping her from escaping quickly. Her attitude not changing, she readied Ember Celica again, this time with a special dust round. She slammed her fist into the ground, firing at the same time and causing a shockwave of fire energy to cascade outwards, setting both Grimm ablaze.

With two Grimm on fire now, Yang moved on to the next set. Boarbatusks had now come onto the scene, ready to tear her apart. One began to charge at her. She waited a moment or two before using her strength to literally slap the sense out of the Grimm, making it collapse on its side before blasting it in the stomach. The second was already bearing down upon her. At the last second, she grabbed both tusks, engaging in a tug of war.

It didn't last long.

She snapped its two tusks clean off before stabbed them through its skull. Killed by its own weapons, there was something poetic about that. The smell of blood and fire was all around her now.

But the Grimm still weren't done yet.

 _I wonder where Jaune is._ Yang looked around, finding no trace of the knight. _Hope he's doing okay._

She had barely finished that thought when something big began to emerged from the forest. The sound of breaking wood and falling trees filled that air. Yang readied herself, she could take three guesses as to what was coming her way, but she only needed one. She dove to the side as something slammed into the spot where she had been standing seconds before. As she slid to a stop, she noticed that a giant stinger was now deeply embedded in the ground a few feet away. Even as the stinger began to retract, several trees were already pelting through the air towards her, to which she responded by turning them into firewood.

"Yeah, get some!" Yang pounded her fists together.

A screech filled the air as the Death Stalker began to assault her in earnest. It tried to impale her again, but she braced herself and caught the stinger inches from her face, she could see the tip glistening with venom. She had never seen the effects of Death Stalker venom, and she wasn't about to find out. Her arms trembled with effort as she began to force the tail away.

In retrospect, this was a bad move to make when fighting alone.

As she stood grappling with the stinger, it grabbing her in its left pincer and lifted her into the air. As she struggled in its grasp, she lost her grip on the stinger which rose above its head ominously, ready to finish the job.

Not good.

Yang, thinking quickly, stopped struggling and knowing how hard its carapace was, began to empty Ember Celica in the only place that made sense: its eyes. It screeched in pain and began to flail wildly, inadvertently tossing her into the thick of the forest. She collided with several trees before she hit the ground.

It hurt.

"Okay well that's just annoying." She groaned as she got up, checking to make sure that she hadn't sustained any severe injuries. "Okay, time to get serious."

She began to jog back to the area she had been thrown from, thinking as she went. She hadn't tried to make a head-on attack because that shell wasn't going to break with a few punches.

And by herself, she wouldn't be able to distract the scorpion-like Grimm long enough to do any real damage.

She needed Jaune.

 _God, do I sound desperate._ Yang reluctantly turned back to where she last remembered seeing him. _Let's hope he's not down yet._

A thought came to Yang, and she quickly checked her aura levels.

Eighty percent.

 _Wouldn't I have used more than that in a fight this intense?_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Marvelous!" Professor Port nodded in approval. "Both our hunters are making effective use of their own abilities!"

All the students in the class were rather baffled and awed by this display. Of course, nobody had ever been launched way out into the Emerald Forest before. A couple of Grimm in-class was nothing to be worried about, but the two blondes were out there all alone with no one to help them, and all the students could do was watch them from a screen.

Still, they were all pumped up.

"Go get em guys!" Ruby, as always, remained supportive of both her friend and her sister. "You rock!"

"Jaune's certainly getting better." Blake voiced her own opinion. "Much better."

"Almost too much so." Weiss stared hard at the split screen. "I could swear I saw a bit of Yang in him."

Pyrrha said nothing, but agreed with the heiress that traces of Yang could be seen in how Jaune fought.

"The same could be said for Yang." Ren gestured to the brawler. "She looks like she's trying to be tactical."

"They became like each other!" Nora chimed in with her thoughts. "That's so cool!"

"Quite right." Peter said in reply to his students. "Both of them seem to work together in more ways than one."

Perhaps it was everything that had happened in the previous week and several days, but those words coming from the professor's mouth triggered something in the minds of Team RWBY and JNPR. They all looked at each other.

Did Professor Port know something that they didn't?

"Professor?" Ruby was the first to voice the question.

"Take note of their aura levels." A hand to the screen showed the bars of aura representing both Jaune and Yang. "They are still relatively high in spite of the numerous enemies that the two of them have fought."

Looking at the bars that were still green in spite of having been in combat for an extended period of time. None of them ever recalled either Jaune being so in control of his aura or Yang being so conservative with hers.

"Too many things all at once." Blake rubbed her forehead. "What is going on with those two?"

"I've given up." Ruby felt the cool table against her face. "If they're trying to confuse me, they've succeeded spectacularly."

"A mystery!" Nora jumped from her seat, grabbing Ren by his collar. "Watson, you and I are on the case!"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune was quite familiar with the ground as a landing pad.

So was Yang.

Jaune had a softer landing than Yang did, at first. As he got to his feet, Yang shot out of the forest, careening into him at top speed, and he fell to the ground again. The second time hurt like hell.

"A little warning next time." Jaune lifted Yang off of him. "One time was more than enough. No offense, Weiss." He knew she was listening.

"Are you calling me fat?" Yang got up. "Jaune!"

"Fat? Absolutely not." Jaune rose, grabbing Crocea Mors. "But you are very…"

"Yes?"

"Uh…"

The sounds of the creatures of Grimm filled their ears. Without any further words, the two of them moved side by side, weapons ready to kill anything that got close. A small horde of Grimm was fast approaching.

"I'll tell you all about it later."

"Never leave a girl waiting, vomit boy."

"Since when have I ever been good with girls?"

"Point made."

Yang was the first to attack, firing her gauntlets at the Grimm. Jaune, lacking a ranged option, settled for mopping up any stragglers that survived Yang's onslaught. They managed to take down thirteen like this before the real fighting began once again. They surged forward to meet the Grimm head on.

In that moment that they moved together, its seemed that everything they saw and heard suddenly sharpened and was perceived in vivid detail.

Yang let out a whoop as she sucker-punched a Beowolf in the chest. Jaune followed with a slash that cleaved half of its head off. He then brought his shield up. Once he was clear, she moved in front of him to pump two shots into an Ursa's head. Jaune dipped around Yang to shield slam a Beowolf that was leaping towards them on his left as Yang broke the backs of two more that were attacking on her right. They split apart as another Ursa tried to crush them into the dirt. They leapt towards it, Jaune went low, slicing its stomach open and Yang went high with a devastating uppercut that broke its jaw, and probably everything else up there as well.

As is fell over, Jaune gave Yang a thumbs up to which she responded by shooting him in the face…well, not really. She shot the Beowulf that was about to make him a whole head shorter. Jaune shot her a sheepish grin and spun around to make sure nothing else was going to make him look like an idio…ahem, attack him.

There was a short break from the oncoming wave of Grimm. But they were fast-approaching from all angles.

Knowing that he couldn't possibly take down Grimm fast enough without a ranged weapon, he looking at Yang and got an idea.

"Yang, grab my hand." He put his shield back on his belt and held out a hand.

Yang, having just finished reloading Ember Celica, surprised them both by not refusing or even asking what he had in mind, simply taking his hand. With a puff of air, Jaune began to concentrate on swinging her around.

Seeing what he was doing, Yang readied her free gauntlet to fire. The second that the Grimm were in range, she began firing off rounds as fast as she could. She had just reloaded with explosive rounds and this resulted in a fiery tornado of death. Grimm were lit on fire, thrown away, or incinerated as they were caught up in the storm.

Jaune was almost certain he'd hurl as he came to a halt. He felt something coming up and he started heaving.

Yang slapped him on the back hard enough to slam him to the ground. That hurt, but strangely enough, there was no more urge to barf.

He only gave Yang a mild glare, to which she shrugged her shoulders. Still, the Grimm weren't done yet. Another group was charging them.

"Man, these guys love us." Yang took the chance to reload her gauntlet with lightning rounds. "They're lining right up."

"Well, they're excited." Jaune just held his shield up.

Again, without warning, they moved into action. Jaune coated his shield in aura and Yang, noticing this, recalled what happened the last time she'd seen that and suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Jaune, heads up" Yang shouted.

Without any further warning, she coated her fist with aura and punched Jaune's raised shield, timing her shot so that the round would detonate against the shield. Jaune realized what she was doing immediately and leveled his shield at the oncoming pack. The result was a reflected lightning wave that completely scattered the Grimm, frying some of them where they stood.

They were both enveloped by their auras after that stunt, but instead of a constant glow, her yellow aura and his white aura both were pulsing in synch.

"What's your aura level?" They asked each other. They checked quickly their scrolls and reported to each other. "Seventy percent."

They might've examined this more closely if the Grimm were gone, but they were resilient.

There was a crashing sound and instead of Ursas or Beowolves, there was a Death Stalker emerging from the forest, grabbing whatever it could and hurling it at them.

"Not this guy again." Yang said, cocking Ember Celica.

"You two friends?" Jaune asked her, readying Crocea Mors.

"I tried. Sadly, not even all of "this" can charm everyone." She gestured to herself. "Maybe he'll change his mind once he's gotten a taste of dust."

"Sometimes I wonder about you." There was a tone of worry in his voice. This girl was so determined in ways that he wasn't.

Having dealt with this before, Jaune was running different scenarios in his head. There were two obvious ways to approach this. The first was to use its stinger against it or to try and attempt an underside strike.

Two of them, one giant Grimm.

Half-assed plans?

Perfect.

"Just how crazy do you think you can be?"

"As crazy as can be."

"Good, then charge it." Sapphire eyes glanced to her.

"You know me so well." A lilac eye winked at him.

Yang took off in a sprint, augmenting her speed with a burst of aura. The Death Stalker saw her and decided to use its two pincers this time. Yang shot her arms out and fired Ember Celica in order to push the two deadly appendages away. It predictably resorted to its third deadly appendage and she then hopped away to stop from being smashed into the ground by the stinger. When the yellow point disengaged from the ground, the brawler grabbed onto it with both hands. The chill of the rushing wind made her skin tingle.

She did a flip before landing on the section connecting to its flesh. She fired five shots, and then then hung on for dear life. No matter how hard she was swung around, she didn't let go. The movement of the tail didn't allow her to see that Jaune was charging.

Because of the distraction it was facing, the Death Stalker wasn't entirely focused on Jaune. In any case, the way that he slid underneath a badly-aimed claw still made his blood rush. Then his sword came up to slice into the soft underside.

Hunters: 1. Grimm: some negative number that they forgot to keep count of.

It let out a terrible cry of pain and jerked wildly. The Death Stalker was weakened, but still not dead, yet.

Of course he forgot that even though Grimm weren't really living things, they still bled, and now he was positively soaked in its blood.

Grimm blood. It was really messy stuff. How come it couldn't evaporate like the Grimm?

"Of course." He breathed through his mouth. "Stupid me, at least it evaporates."

"No time for taking a nap, vomit boy!" Yang shouted from above. "Get your rear in gear and help me!"

"What do you think I've been doing?" Jaune yelled back at her.

He stabbed again. Another screech. The knight could see that the wounds were slowly sapping its strength. If he didn't get out from under it fast, he'd be flattened.

So he rolled out in the most undignified manner, slicing a leg on the way out to bring it down faster. Still it refused to let go.

Yang was having a better time, having somehow ripped off its stinger and was now brutally stabbing it in its armored head.

And this was his friend.

From where he stood, Jaune watched expectantly as Yang finished it off one blow at a time. When she struck the final blow, all was quiet once again.

"Looks like you've lost a potential friend."

"It wasn't gonna work out anyway. He was too Grimm for my tastes."

He lowered his head and closed his eyes. How much of this was he going to have to take? "That's not going away anytime soon." He thought he was being quiet.

"What was that?" She somehow appeared next to him. "I thought you just said something real nice about me." Hands on her hips, mouth smirking wildly, slightly bloodied. Her condition didn't seem to diminish her beauty.

"Yeah, real funny one, blazing beauty." He chuckled, immune to her little game. "It was so funny I forgot to laugh."

"I thought you didn't want to ruin my good mood."

"That was one of your worst."

A third round of collective roars resounded all around them. Then a humongous wave of enemies unlike anything the two had ever seen came from all directions.

"Oh come on." Jaune whined, his stance slightly ragged.

"Now this is the way to go down fighting!" Yang seemed to be only spurred on by the unyielding forces of the Grimm. "Just a good old-fashioned horde to the death!"

"Speak for yourself!" Jaune ground his teeth together. "I still got a lot of things to do before I die!"

In spite of not being at full strength, they were both preparing themselves for the onslaught coming right at them.

Then the sound of a gun firing that wasn't Ember Celica sounded throughout the forest. A whole torrent of bullets rained down death upon the Grimm horde. Because there were no more significant threats within their ranks, they were cut down easily, and within less than a minute, there was nothing left.

The sound of gunfire was replaced by the sound of a bullhead above them.

"Guess that's our ride." The junior huntsman plucked his sword into the ground so he could lean.

"Boom!" Yang cracked her knuckles. "We are good!"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **That Afternoon…**

Blake listened to her own footsteps as she walked around the tower. She was going to meet Pyrrha in the training rooms in order to convey what she thought was happening between the two blonds that they called partners.

Their little demonstration in Port's class had made Blake revisit some old books about aura techniques. The entire time, she'd noticed one thing about Yang and Jaune. Their aura levels remained consistent with one another; neither was higher or lower than the other, they stayed at exactly the same level.

Blake knew this wasn't a coincidence. Yang was a bit wasteful with aura as her fighting style indicated. Jaune was still training hard to control aura, so he wasn't very-well disciplined. Despite their flaws, Yang had far more control than Jaune. That should've meant he would have been consuming more aura, faster.

To add to her growing interest, their aura levels were much higher than they normally were. It was like someone had taken both their auras and had amplified them to a significant degree.

There were too many factors to say that it was nothing.

So after lunch, the Faunus girl had broken away from her team to go look for books to read. This wasn't questioned by anyone; books and her went together well. Blake, in that instance, was relieved that she could use her love for books as an excuse to explain her activities.

Her research for the first two hours turned up nothing. She reread through everything she'd learned this year and had also gone through various other books. Maybe she hadn't read in full detail, but there were parts she was already quite familiar with, so she skipped and skimmed a bit.

It wasn't until she started to read older books that she made a bit of headway.

It was a book that predated the huntsman academies, before the Great War even. Aura did exist back then, but the kingdoms didn't exist in their familiar forms and the huntsman academies didn't exist yet either.

The term that came to her attention was aura melding. The book went on to describe the term as a joining of two or more people. By joining, it meant the combining of aura. Blake was quite familiar with the concept. Huntsmen and huntresses often exchanged aura in order to accelerate healing.

But that wasn't what this book was talking about. It suggested a far deeper connection, a connection that the huntress in training thought to be only real in fairy tales and legends. It was like the people joined together could become one another, know each other for who they were, hold no secrets back, and fully understand one another.

It seemed a bit far-fetched.

Still, it was something to ponder on. She would need to look into older books seeing as this one was just a start. There weren't any specific examples given as to how this bond worked, if it existed.

Pyrrha might want to know though. She might even know something that Blake didn't, however slim the chance.

As she left the library, she noticed two familiar faces outside chatting with each other.

Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias were standing outside the main doors, leaning against the nearby railings. Nothing unusual about it. Blake, for a moment, considered bypassing them. She thought better of it though, remembering the promise to her team to be more open. She might as well start trying harder.

"Hey guys." Blake waved in a friendly manner and smiled. "What's going on?"

"Blake." Sun smiled at her. "Where are you headed?"

"I was gonna go see if Pyrrha wanted to train," She gestured to the training halls. "And you guys?"

"Just talking, trying to catch up on the latest news around campus." Neptune responded to her question. "Not much else is interesting."

"So there is something interesting?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Not that Beacon Academy couldn't have its moments of surprise and shock and awe, but for the most part, there wasn't anything too out of the ordinary.

"What, you don't know?" Sun gave her a questioning look.

"Know what?" Blake raised her hands in question. "What should I know?"

"I thought Yang would've told you by now." Sun shrugged. "Ah well, if she hasn't told you, then maybe it's not worth telling."

"What?" Blake was reeled in.

"Maybe we should tell her." Neptune seemed to disagree.

"We don't even know ourselves what to make of it, detective." Sun shook his head, smoothing his hair with his hand.

"Okay, what the heck are you guys going on about?" Blake crossed her arms, her golden eyes narrowing at both of them.

"It… might be better if we showed you." Neptune began to type something in his scroll. "There."

"What did you do, Nep?" Sun stared at him.

Blake felt a slight buzz and she found her scroll. When she opened the message, there was no text, only a picture. A very rough picture, but she could see enough.

She stared.

Her eyes didn't waver.

Her grip on her scroll tightened.

"Blake?"

She didn't answer the two of them, just turned to leave, almost taking off in a run.

* * *

 **For the patience of my readers (or impatience or indifference depending upon the person), you got a long chapter. People have been telling me that I needed to get along in the story, but then again, one of the goals I made for this story was to be a slow romance. Then again, it's hardly been two weeks in-story.**

 **So I compromised. I've moved the story along while trying to get in those slows.**

 **So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Same old, same old? Say what you want, because it's all feedback.**

 **As always, many thanks for the viewership and attention. Almost 120,000 views. Awesome!**

 **And a special thanks to Operator Blake and Trance Sephiroth for their work beta-reading this chapter.**

 **Finally, special thanks to Makentsu for the cover art.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed reading, and remember:**

 _ **"Action is the foundational key to success."**_

 **Pablo Picasso**

 **Peace!**


	12. Ch 12: The Real Game

Beta Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammer)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 12: The Real Game

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Monday Afternoon…**

"Well, it looks like everything's in order. You should be okay. There are no permanent or otherwise noteworthy injuries."

Jaune sat on the edge of the bed as he was given the details about the extent of his injuries, which wasn't much. His aura had done most of the healing already. For the few wounds that remained, it was only a matter of time.

"Thank you." Jaune smiled.

"No problem, Mr. Arc." The nurse nodded her head. "Now, I believe your friends are waiting outside."

"There's nothing else?" Jaune asked. "I can go?"

"Actually, there is one thing. It's about your aura."

"What about it?"

The nurse was quick to pull up some readings on her scroll. There were readouts on not only his aura, but Yang's as well.

"We noticed that both you and Ms. Xiao Long had unusually similar aura readings, and by that I mean both your aura levels were exactly the same. We believed this to be coincidence at first, but there was something else."

"Like what?"

"We were given the results of your combat training exercise-" the nurse began.

 _More like a death sentence._ The knight couldn't help but snark internally. _I will never look at Professor Port the same way ever again._

"-and we noticed that the entire time, your auras were consistent with each other's. Even more strange is that you both displayed unusually high amounts of it."

"But I thought I had a lot to begin with." Jaune expressed his confusion.

"You do, Mr. Arc, but Ms. Xiao Long doesn't have the amount of aura you possess," She pushed the data to the side to show another screen. "And that's not even what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that both of you displayed amounts that were above your reported levels."

"So we both had more aura than our usual maximum?" Jaune did his best to translate what she said. "As in, we had more than we could produce?"

"Yes." The nurse shut off her scroll. "It's an interesting development, one that I've never seen in my career attending to huntsman and huntresses. I'll have to send this data out to be examined, just to make sure that there are no dangers to your physical and mental health, Ms. Xiao Long included."

"Should I be concerned?" Jaune inquired. "Who's going to be notified?"

"For now, the headmaster and the medical staff." The nurse explained to him.

"But if our research concludes that either you or Ms. Xiao Long are in danger, your parents will need to get involved."

He breathed a mental sigh of relief. He wasn't even ready to face his sisters with the details of his moving away from home to attend Beacon, so how would he be able to explain this to his family?

Then again, he wondered what Ozpin would do with the results.

Never mind that; he'd cross that bridge when the time came.

Jaune gave a final word of thanks before he exited the infirmary, playing with his gloves a bit. The moment he opened the door, he was swarmed by his teammates.

"Jaune-Jaune!" Nora stood directly in front of him, bouncing on her feet. "You're alive!"

"I should hope so." Ren let a small smirk play across his face. "Otherwise he wouldn't be standing here."

"Everything okay?" Pyrrha stepped up. "Anything concerning?"

"Nah, all good." Jaune was quick to reassure his partner. "Now what were we going to do for the rest of the day?"

"Test studying." Ren relayed an answer quickly. "Remember the one coming up this Friday?"

"Yeah, I remember." Jaune realized something else. "And I've been neglecting it. Dammit."

"Jaune-Jaune said a bad word!" Nora shouted loudly. "Granted, not a bad-bad word, but still bad."

Before he could do anything, the white knight's face was met with a hard slap to his right cheek. It didn't help that the bomber was naturally very strong, so the result was a drain on his aura and a slight mark on his face.

"Nora!" Pyrrha scolded the shorter girl. "You know better than to hit people like that for such a trivial reason."

"But Jaune-Jaune said a bad word!" Nora retorted. "He should be setting a good example as team leader!"

"That's hardly a bad word." Jaune let his indignation be known. "Besides, I can say way worse words than that."

Another slap to his face, this time to his other cheek.

"And don't talk back, my leader!" Nora had to crane her neck to glare at him.

"That's my line." Jaune mildly returned her glare. "Not including the 'my leader' part. And don't do that again."

"Hmmph!" Nora crossed her arms and turned her head away.

"As entertaining as this is, we should go." Ren put a hand on both his friend's shoulders. "No need to cause a scene here."

"Agreed, friends." Pyrrha began to guide Jaune and Nora. "Now let us go. I'm sure that we can resolve this without the need for excessive use of… unorthodox methods."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"That was quite a fight out there, Yang." Blake was next to her partner as they walked. "Very impressive."

"Yeah, you were all ZZZAP!" Ruby waved her arms. "And then you were like all SWOOOSH! And they you did that cool tornado thingy. It was SOOO AWESOME!"

"Alright, Ruby, we all understand." Weiss made an attempt to calm down the younger girl. "It was quite a display."

"Quite a display?!" Ruby gave Weiss a look of indignation. "That was more than just a display! That was something else!"

"Aw, c'mon Ruby, it wasn't that mind-blowing, was it?" Yang laughed at her sister's over-enthusiasm. "Just some cool new moves."

"Yeah, but since when did you and Jaune do coordinated attacks like you did?" Blake held her scroll up with a few image stills. "This is like our paired attacks."

"It wasn't that hard to understand." Yang seemed uncaring and unconcerned. "Jaune made it easy."

"That was easy?" Weiss's tone left no doubt of skepticism. "I find that very hard to believe. Moves like those don't just happen, not without practice."

 _And what if they did?_ Yang asked the question in her head. _Then what?_

"You guys are reading too much into it." The brawler tried again to divert the conversation. "Besides, don't we have stuff to do now?"

"Not particularly." Ruby thought over their schedule. "So if you've got plans with Jaune, I don't mind."

"Where did that come from?" Yang realized just a bit of bite was in her voice. "I don't spend that much time with him."

"Actually, you're spending more time with him than you realize." Blake returned her scroll to her pocket. "So what's that like?"

"Um, we do what friends do." It sounded like part question, part answer. "You know, nothing special."

"It's special enough. You spend a lot of time with him." The heiress seemed to be just as involved in the conversation now. "Too much time for it just to be simple friendship."

"Okay, all of you hold your Grimm." Yang felt just a bit uncomfortable at this examination. "When did my new friend become such an interest to you all?"

"Because he's our friend too." Ruby opened the door to their room. "And we're your teammates. We ought to know what you two do together."

"Okay, firstly, Jaune's only friends with me and you, Ruby." Yang clarified instantly. "Blake hasn't ever talked to him and Weiss just doesn't feel the need to talk that much."

"Yeah, okay, you've got a point there." Blake nodded her head. "But his team is our sister team for lack of a better term. They watch our backs and we watch theirs."

"Okay… your point?" Yang knew that there had to be one.

"We're not judging you." Weiss tried another approach. "We just want to know a bit about what you're doing with Jaune."

It was a reasonable thing to ask, Yang realized, but she wasn't willing to give her teammates what they wanted. The blonde brawler knew her teammates to be understanding of virtually any situation, and Yang wasn't one to hide things.

Yet all she could do was look to the floor.

"I'm sorry, gals." Yang bowed her head in shame. "I've been keeping secrets, ones I shouldn't keep, but I've been doing it because…"

Nobody said anything. This was indeed a serious moment because as a team, to see the one person who exuded confidence and self-assurance to be so lost, so unsure, it was more than slightly distressing.

"What if I told you guys that Jaune and I have sorta gone beyond a friendship?" Yang decided to at least give them something, a truth of sorts. "Like something that's more than friends?"

"What?" Ruby scratched her head. "I don't get it."

"Nor do I." Weiss cocked her head to the left. "I need more details than that."

"... I think I get it." Blake said her two cents.

"What?" Ruby and Weiss looked to Blake as if she had grown a second head. "What did you get?"

"I think what Yang is trying to say is that… it's complicated." Blake's gaze shifted to Yang, then back to her teammates. They looked like they were drawing the wrong conclusion. "And I don't mean like that. I meant… Yang needs time to figure out with Jaune what they actually are, if not just friends."

"So it's not like…" Ruby trailed off.

"No, Ruby." Yang looked out the window at the cloudy sky. "It's not like that, not even close. How many times do I have to say it?"

"I still don't understand." Weiss interjected. "Not by a longshot."

"Bottom line?" Yang closed her eyes. "It's complicated, like Blake said. I'll work out what I can with Jaune. I promise you guys that if I'll tell you when I've made a breakthrough."

"We can wait." Blake played with her bow. "I mean, it's not like it's a world-ending thing, right?"

"Nothing THAT serious." Yang swiped some of her hair behind her. "But it could become serious if we don't deal with it the right way."

"Okay, we got it." Ruby stood on her feet. "We'll give you two space for a bit."

"And besides," Weiss commented, "It's not like we don't have other things to attend to."

"Really, Weiss?" Yang whined, "We're having a moment and you're going to bust it with talk of homework?"

"Grades, Yang. That's all I'm going to say." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Guess it's time I hit the books." Yang grumbled. "Literally."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Later…**

Jaune carefully regarded his pieces, then he looked at Pyrrha, who was equally focused on the board game in front of them. After some persistence, he'd convinced Ren to hold off studying until later. Pyrrha agreed, and Ren had conceded, so here they were.

Playing chess.

No, he wasn't really good at chess, at least not initially, but just like his combat training and his budding strategy skills, he was getting better. His tactical mind was actually taking into account all possible moves that could be made, all possible pieces that Pyrrha could take as a consequence of the moves he made, and all the effects it could and would likely have for the future of the game.

He moved his knight forward. "Your move, partner."

Pyrrha looked at his move, and her eyes darted from the board to Jaune's face. He knew what she was doing. She was trying to gauge his reaction in the hopes of discerning his next move. Maybe she'd figure out that he was actually trying to lure her in and take one of her bishops by intentionally placing his rook into a death trap.

And to his mild surprise, she took the bait.

 _This seems a little too easy_. Jaune considered the board carefully. _She fell for my trap and acts like nothing's wrong._

The first rule of fighting with Pyrrha was to never underestimate her. She was one of the best students of the class. Stellar grades in all classes marked her as a student that worked hard, but she was also known to be very intelligent. She might not be team leader, but she was no slacker when it came to strategy.

So, as he looked at the board over and over again, he glanced up to see if Pyrrha was reacting in any way, but she did not, remaining patient and observant.

Deciding to continue with his plan, Jaune moved his next piece.

"You know it's been awhile since we've played chess together." Jaune sat back after finishing his move. "How long's it been?"

"At least a few months." Pyrrha cast her eyes at the board before looking at her partner. "I wondered if we were ever going to play again."

"Yeah, that was fun." He remembered that game. She'd beaten him for sure, but they were both surprised by how long he held out. "But I've gotten better."

"I've no doubt." She finally made her move. "You're always so determined to grow and mature."

"It comes with the territory." Thoughts of his fake transcripts filled his mind. "I lied my way into Beacon. I want those lies to become a reality and more."

"I know you'll be able to do it." Her smile was just so warming. "I have faith that you can."

Hearing Pyrrha say those words again did more than just make him feel thankful. How many times had she said that she believed in him? Dozens of times if memory served him, and in all those times, she always said it with the most genuine voice he'd ever heard. Not once did he ever hear her waver in her conviction. It was incredible that she, a virtually perfect person, cared so much about him. Not that he didn't believe in himself, but he was still just a rookie amongst more experienced and better-trained warriors.

Out of all the people who were initiated into Beacon, she chose to become his partner. Why would she save him when she could've left well enough alone?

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice returned him to reality. "Is everything okay?"

That seemed to be a question that everyone asked him a lot. Why did all of his friends ask him that a lot? Was he really that fragile? While the worry was appreciated, if there was one thing he disliked a lot was being thought of as a little kid who couldn't do a single thing. He was training to be a huntsman; he couldn't afford to be treated like a child every time things looked hairy.

Jaune reigned in his anger. This was Pyrrha; how could he be mad at her? Why was he even mad at her to begin with? It wasn't like him to be mad at the spartan. Moreover, it wasn't in his nature to be mad at anyone.

So, he thought of a way to deflect her concerns. "Pyrrha… can I ask you a serious question?"

"Anything." She was now fully focused on him. "What is it?"

It was go-time, now or never.

"Why did you choose me to be your partner?" Jaune's expression was as serious as possible. "What did you see in me?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Pyrrha heard the question clearly. Her mind began to quickly come up with some way to answer him. She knew the reasons why she chose him. She knew what drew her towards him. In her mind, it was a decision that she had absolutely no regrets about.

However, this was not only a chance to firmly establish her relationship with him, but maybe also to push it in the direction that she desired.

"Jaune," Pyrrha began, "I've been a celebrity for much of my life. Sometimes, it's hard for me to remember a time when I wasn't in the spotlight."

There were memories of a child just being a normal girl with a normal life. There were memories of her and her mother just being family. There were memories of her father assisting her with creating the weapons she used now.

"My first victory in the Mistral Tournament was much-celebrated. It was a proud achievement." Pyrrha felt her face lower, remembering the sudden change in how she was viewed. "But it was also when the world around me changed. I wasn't a normal girl anymore; to everyone else, I was an idol, someone on another level entirely."

"I can't even begin to imagine." The look Jaune gave her was one akin to sympathy. "How did you cope?"

"By remaining true to my goal in life." She picked herself up again as she reminded herself of her goal. "And that was to become a huntress, to serve and protect the innocent; that always has been my goal. It still is."

"That's a noble goal." He smiled at this. "But was that really all you had to get yourself through the difficult times?"

"I still had my parents. For the longest time, they were the only thing tethering me to normality… until I met you."

"Me?" He sounded surprised at this. "What did I do?"

"What nobody had done for years." She leaned closer to him. "Treat me as simply a person, nothing more, nothing less. You didn't know I was a celebrity. You only know because you were told."

"Really? That's it?"

"Really, that's it, and because of that, I saw an opportunity that I'd never seen in my life: I was given a chance to forge a truly meaningful relationship."

"I… actually understand that in a way." Pyrrha looked at him, questioning his words. He was swift to respond to her gaze. "I mean, I won't pretend to understand what being a celebrity means, but I will say this: I've never had many friends. You can thank my sisters for that."

"Sisters?" Another thing she didn't know about him. "How many?"

"Um… seven." He looked embarrassed to admit this. "I've never told you this before?"

"No." Pyrrha shook her head, astonished to hear he had so many siblings. "I can't even imagine what that must be like."

"You know, I think Yang said something similar." Jaune's snicker was muffled by him gritting his teeth. "Imagine that? I guess siblings are all troublesome."

At the mention of Yang, Pyrrha's thoughts recoiled. He spoke so fondly of Yang, something that he hadn't done a few weeks ago. It would not be as big of a problem in the young spartan's mind, if not for the fact that the way the blond knight spoke of the blazing beauty in a way that seemed to advance the idea of there being a deeper connection than just friendship, something much more intimate.

Why did fate have to be so unfair? Months of developing a relationship all for naught in the face of this new bond developed in a fraction of the time Pyrrha had known and befriended Jaune.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune's voice had her return to the world. "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking. I'm sorry for not paying attention." Pyrrha immediately moved to apologize. "My mistake."

"No, it's fine. Actually, I don't think you missed anything." It was fortuitous that he was easy to get along with, never finding nor making a reason to antagonize. "And that's the best part about you, Pyrrha."

"The best part about me?" Her heart skipped slightly.

"You say that you've never had friends before, but you could've fooled me." His smile was so infectious. How could she not be happy when he smiled? "I've never met someone who's so determined to maintain a relationship. You were willing to take me, a newbie, and train me to become the best that I can. You're not just a friend, Pyrrha."

"You think so, Jaune?" Where was this coming from? These words, they felt like they had a deeper meaning.

"Pyrrha, you're family to all of Team JNPR. You've always been there to help me when I needed it. You've never discouraged Nora from being who she is, and Ren appreciates a person who can understand his introverted nature as well as care for Nora. We love you like you're family, and we'll continue to do so."

He loved her. He said it himself for the first time that she could recall. He saw her as family, not just a friend.

It wasn't the love she sought though.

But what was more important to her? Her relationship with him now or what she wanted to have with him?

One look into his eyes and she could see that he was being the most open that she had ever seen him be. When was she going to get another chance like this one?

 _Maybe never_. Pyrrha mulled in her head. _I shouldn't waste kindness that's given to me. Perhaps another time._

That prompted her to let go, at least for the time being, of her desires. If there was one thing more important than what she wanted, it was what she had now; she had desired friendship, close bonds, and Beacon had given her that. These relationships would last a lifetime; she would make sure of that.

"Thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha felt better, even if a bit incomplete. "I've never heard anyone other than my parents say that to me. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Jaune reached across the board and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just continue to be family with us."

"I promise for as long as I live." Pyrrha's tone was deeply serious. "I won't abandon any of you."

"Thanks, partner, and checkmate by the way."

Her emerald eyes glanced down to the board to see that he had indeed positioned his knight in such a way that her king was cornered from all angles. She couldn't hide her look of surprise at this unexpected turn of events.

"You have gotten better." Pyrrha felt a laugh come up. "I didn't see that one coming."

"I try." Jaune glanced at a nearby clock. "Hey, I gotta run and grab a few things from the room. I'll meet you guys at the cafeteria."

"Of course, we'll be there." Pyrrha stood up as well. "And Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

His eyes were on her, and for a moment, panic seized her mind. Why had she suddenly thought about this? She'd told herself that another time she would try again, but it would seem that either she wasn't as good at convincing herself that she could control it as she thought, or her feelings were stronger than she had anticipated.

Regardless, there was no turning back now. She cast a worried glance to the side, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and moved forward.

She stepped up to Jaune and quietly planted a soft kiss to the side of his lips. She then quickly retreated, smiling just a bit.

"Thank you."

"Yeah… I'll see you later."

He smiled back at her before he took off in quite the rush, but Pyrrha didn't continue to smile, only frown.

Years of putting on a bright face for crowds and fans and famous people had taught her the difference between a genuine smile and a false smile.

And Jaune had just given her a false smile.

The shifting of her scroll in her pocket snapped her back to Remnant. Her hands gripped the device and she looked to see who was texting her.

It was a message from Blake.

 _Can we talk later? Maybe after dinner?_

She texted her response.

 _Yes._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"That felt… wrong." Jaune didn't want to think about it. "But why?"

Pyrrha Nikos had just given him a kiss, a chaste kiss granted, but a kiss nonetheless. If he were more macho, he'd brag about how the Invincible Girl had kissed him. Maybe in any other situation, he'd just be amazed at the fact that his partner, the beautiful, intelligent, strong, and driven girl had kissed him.

Now, the only thing he felt was a sense of guilt.

But it was Pyrrha, his partner. What was he supposed to do? Push her away? The last time he did that, he'd hurt her emotionally. He didn't wish to put her through that again, but when she kissed him, all he could think about was Yang.

There was no shame when it came to intimacy with his friends with benefits. They just got on with it and enjoyed to its maximum potential, and yet he found himself laughing at the irony of the situation. The fact that the most simple and tame type of lip contact was eliciting this sort of reaction.

Perhaps this was the sort of thing that people with relationship experience had gone through? Oh why did his sisters not let him date when he was living at home? Maybe if he'd dated before, he could figure out this relationship thing more easily?

 _No time to wonder about the 'if's.'_

"Hey Jaune!" The sound of Ruby's voice jolted him. "You gonna head down and eat soon?"

"Uh, yeah." Jaune tried to play it off, though knowing his luck, they would figure out something was off. "I was just gonna grab a few things from the room."

His head turned see all the members of Team RWBY, and what he saw made him halt in his mental tracks. They seemed… different.

"We'll see you down there." Ruby patted him on the shoulder before moving off.

Weiss passed by and gave him a light smile.

Blake regarded him like he was a complete and utter stranger.

Yang flashed him her trademark smile, but something told him that it was merely a front. He felt something else, something like…

"I'll catch you later, Yang." He waved to her.

"Sure thing, Jaune." A pat on the shoulder was her response.

There it was again, that feeling. Now though, it felt stronger. Was it Yang projecting these things onto him?

That sounded absurd. Scratch that, he was probably just losing his cool.

"Are you okay?" Yang shook his shoulder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'll see you guys in a bit." Jaune pulled away suddenly, and rushed down the hallway.

The moment he reached the room, he slumped in front of the door, feeling the worst that he'd ever felt in such a long time.

He had let Pyrrha kiss him and he couldn't tell Yang.

He was a coward.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

If there was any doubt about Jaune's mood, there was none now.

He wasn't here, even though he said he'd be here.

It was fifteen minutes into dinner and he still wasn't present and he was not accounted for.

Even without his presence, things between RWBY and NPR were not all that normal either. It looked like everyone seemed to have something on their mind. Even Nora was quiet today, but that could be attributed to her eating a lot of food at once.

"Shouldn't Jaune be here by now?" Ruby moved her head left and right, searching for her fellow team leader. "I thought he was going to be just a few minutes."

"You saw Jaune?" Pyrrha picked up on Ruby's words almost instantly.

"Just passed by us on the way to the rooms." Blake picked up a piece of sushi from food in front of her. "Seemed to be in a real hurry."

"He seemed off a bit." Weiss added her own observation. "It was not a good look for him."

The spartan seemed to take those words hard, not even trying to mask her displeasure through a smile. Everyone noticed this.

"Did… something happen?" It was Yang who finally decided to find out the answer to the question everyone had. "Argument?"

"No, something else." Pyrrha played with her fingers. "I think I may have caused a major problem."

"Pyrrha?" Ren's voice sounded worried for once. "What happened?"

"I… kissed Jaune."

Across from her, the blonde brawler felt enmity inside her blood. Did she hear right? Pyrrha kissed Jaune?

"Isn't that a good thing?" Ruby scratched her head. "I mean, you're you. Why wouldn't he like it?"

That didn't help Yang calm down.

"He… didn't respond the way I expected." Pyrrha did her best to remain level. "He just… left, almost like he didn't want it to happen."

"What?" Nora looked mortified. "But it's Jaune! He's never even kissed a girl in his life. He's even said so himself. He should've been shouting for joy!"

 _That might be the case if he hadn't already gone all the way._ That comment almost made it way out of Yang's mouth, and was barely kept from being said. _Three times now._

"What did his face tell you?" Blake wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"He smiled…" That left everyone more confused.

"So why's that a bad thing?" Ren inquired.

"He smiled the way I smile when I'm bombarded with cameras and fans." Everyone knew what that meant. "I've never seen him do that exact smile."

"But… why?" Ruby still looked confused.

"Did he say anything else after?" Now wasn't the time to show it, but Yang was just as unhappy with this development as Pyrrha was. "Or did he just leave?"

"He just left." Pyrrha felt her voice waiver. "He barely said goodbye."

Of course everyone was surprised by this development. Jaune was not one to just take off like that without even a few words besides goodbye, sure he wasn't exactly a suave guy or a social butterfly, but he could do better.

Then everyone considered another possibility, one that seemed to be on everyone's mind these days, and all eyes turned to Yang.

Yang regarded the faces of all of her friends.

"What?" Yang said with a huff. "You think I'm responsible?"

"Not really what we're thinking, partner." Blake drank from her cup. "But maybe you have an idea how to help?"

"And how would I know that?" Yang asked pointedly. "I'm no mind reader."

"But you are his friend." Weiss made her point. "Surely you must have at least an idea or hypothesis if nothing else."

"So why can't Ren or Nora do it?" Yang gestured to the sloth-lover and the ninja with a magenta lock of hair. "They're Jaune's friends too. Why me?"

"Yang." Ruby put on her more authoritative voice, though that was questionable. "You've spent a lot of time together over the past two weeks. This just came up suddenly. We just thought you might have an idea."

Of course the blazing beauty had an idea, and if her idea was correct, then it served only to make herself more confused.

If she knew Jaune well enough, and she thought she did, then Yang could see why he was in this sort of funk. He seemed the traditionalist type, someone to stick to one partner and completely devote his attention to them. If he extended that same mentality to their relationship, if he chose to isolate Pyrrha...

 _Then he cares about me. A lot._ The conclusion brought Yang some surprise, and also brought up some joy. _He actually cares about what I feel._

"Yang." Ruby gave a look that had a pout to it, but also a glare. "C'mon!"

Faced with a problem and with Ruby getting real close to begging for help, what else could Yang do? If she refused, it could be labelled as suspicious.

"Alright." Yang raised her hands. "I'll talk to him."

"The offer is appreciated Yang, but I think I can handle it." Pyrrha's voice was insistent, and maybe even edgy. "I caused this problem. I should fix it."

"You're not going to fix it if the problem is what I think it is." Yang argued back. "Let me talk to him, as a friend."

It was funny how the brawler had let go of her anger. One moment, she was angry at the spartan, and now, her worry for her fellow blond was all that mattered now. As far as Yang was concerned right now, this wasn't about her or Pyrrha.

So naturally it irked Yang to see that the red-haired girl wasn't letting up. Pyrrha still wanted to go after him, when clearly it wasn't the right time.

"How would you even get him back to normal?" The cereal mascot was still skeptical about Yang.

"Oh, don't worry about that. He'll be fine." Yang smirked, all the while getting. "I swear upon my life. Also, even if you don't approve of it, Pyrrha, I'll still go anyway. I don't need your approval to help a friend."

The statement was more than a bold one. It sparked a reaction from Pyrrha, an emotion that she'd never shown before suddenly represented itself in her eyes. It might've been the wrong choice of words, but Yang felt that it needed to be said, because however she chose to speak to Jaune, no one was going to stop her. She chose who she could be friends with.

Even in the face of Pyrrha's suppressed glare.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Yang grabbed her tray. "I've got a friend to help."

Now down to six friends, the remnants of RWBY and JNPR watched as the Y took her leave, grabbing another tray of food from the line, presumably for Jaune.

"Pyrrha?" Ruby asked timidly. "Are you… okay?"

Pyrrha bit her lips and kept her head down. In response to this, both Ren and Nora surrounded her, with the both the ninja and the bomber giving reassuring touches. The rest of RWBY didn't say or do anything.

They weren't sure what sort of gesture would be useful in this situation.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

A knock on the door prompted Jaune to get up abruptly from his place on the floor. He did his best to reign in his beating heart. Taking a long breath, he closed his eyes and tried to calm down.

"It's open." His team didn't ever knock, so it had to be someone from Team RWBY.

To his surprise and horror, Yang came in, tray in-hand. Still, he did his best to offer her a smile, trying in vain to be pleasant.

"Hey Yang." Yeah, that sounded like his most pathetic attempt at a warm greeting. "What's up?"

"I should be asking you that, Jaune." Yang gave him a disappointed look. "I thought we said no secrets between us."

He didn't respond to her words, and Yang sighed. "But before we get to that, you'd better eat something."

She held the tray out to him, and with reluctance, he took it. "Thank you."

It was a simple assortment of food. A sandwich, a bottle of water, an apple, and some yogurt. Still, he couldn't argue with the fact that he was more than a little hungry, as his stomach attested to moments later after regarding said food.

Jaune unwrapped the sandwich and began to chew. Although he was eating normally, he wasn't really registering any taste.

Meanwhile, Yang took a seat next to him on his bed, hands on her knees, watching him with the most critical stare he'd ever seen her give him.

Watching Jaune eat, she could see he was in no way liking this moment, and his fears were justified in some respect. His actions in the eyes of some, could be seen as really bad. Yang didn't want to think of this as a personal issue, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit upset by what she'd heard.

She needed to hear what happened from his mouth.

"So, what happened?" Yang looked him up and down.

Jaune stopped long enough to chew his most recent bite, but his voice was ghost-like. "I thought you already knew. You sound like you know."

"I want to hear it from you." She felt a sharpness in her tone. "Pyrrha told us what happened, but I need to see it from your perspective."

He bowed his head to the floor, shut his eyes, and held his breath. "It felt just like any other talk. You know, just the usual chit-chat stuff, nothing serious." His face hardened. "Then it got real serious."

She said nothing, and he assumed she was still listening. "I asked her why she chose me as a partner. The answer she gave me… surprised me. I never knew she thought so highly of me. I don't think highly of myself."

Pyrrha did have a point, Yang had to agree with that, much to her dismay. Jaune was remarkable in many ways, something she had come to experience in the past two weeks, but not in the ways she had expected. On the surface, he was an adorkable blond boy, but what he held inside… it was unyielding. Perhaps what the spartan saw in the knight wasn't physical so much as it was inside his mind and soul (though Yang couldn't say she had any real complaints about his physical form either).

"I told her that we're always family because we're the protectors of the world; we fight and kill the Grimm so others don't have to." His hands clasped together, held tightly enough for his knuckles to turn a bit white. "When you rely on someone else to defend your life, you trust them in ways you don't trust others."

"Right, makes sense." Yang nodded her head.

"But that's not the point." Jaune said. "That all took me by surprise, but when she… kissed me… I thought about you."

 _Be still my beating heart._ Yang felt a short breath come out. _I must've heard that wrong._

"And that's the worst part of it." He couldn't bear to look at her anymore. "I don't want to make Pyrrha more hurt, but I don't think that I can give her what she wants."

"And why not?" Yang was truly curious, just for curiosity's sake. "Why can't you?"

"...because I've got you already."

She had nothing to say, what could she say? He'd said something that she never expected him to say to her. Of course physical intimacy had ways of making partners fond of each other, that much was certain, but she never expected it to be taken to this level.

Maybe she ought to get him to stop thinking he owed her.

"Jaune, I think you're taking this commitment way too seriously." Yang inched closer to him. "We're friends with benefits, not boyfriend and girlfriend."

 _Although you wish you were._ Oh wonderful, voices talking to her. _You wish it were true._

"I know, I know." Jaune chanced looking at her. "But… it would be like abandoning you if I chose Pyrrha. I already had a relationship with Pyrrha long before… this. At least I can count on that to remain. With you though…"

"We never had a true relationship until two weeks ago." Yang, try as she might, didn't want to see it his way, but he made sense.

"I'm not saying I'd say no to Pyrrha, but… " His eyes locked with hers. "I'd be lying if I said that I'm ready to just give up what we have."

…

She blinked. "What?"

"You heard me." He got up from his bed, and stood at the window. "I'm not ready to give up yet. I don't know what I would call what I feel, but… I don't want to give it up."

His back turned to her, she felt herself looking at him with widened eyes. This was so much to take in at once. She couldn't even come up with the words to convey what she was feeling and thinking.

"I'm sorry, Yang. I shouldn't have bothered you with my personal problems." Jaune turned back to her, and she snapped back to attention. "It's not right of me. It's selfish."

"Even if I want to help you?" Yang stood up to face him. "Even if I don't mind listening?"

"I'm sure you've got better things to do than listen to me." He reasoned with a shrug. "I'm sure you've got problems too."

"The only problem I have is listening to you beat yourself up." She took a step forward. "I told you before, I hate to see you suffer. You don't deserve it."

"What I deserve and what is aren't the same thing." He crossed his arms.

"There you go." She gestured to him. "You're doing it again."

"I don't want your pity." His tone was bitter.

"I'm not giving you pity. I'm giving you a hand."

"I don't need help!"

"Yes you do!"

"I'm training to be a huntsman! I can't afford help, otherwise I'm weak!"

No more.

Without knowing or seeing it coming, Jaune felt his head snap hard to the right, and he brought up his hand to his burning cheek.

"You think you're the only one with problems?" Yang's voice was undeniably full of anger, but there was something else. "You think you're the only one suffering?"

He pulled himself back to his full height, still rubbing the spot on his face where it was red. His aura would kick in shortly.

"For Oum's sake, Jaune, stop doing this to yourself!" She was on the verge of shouting. "Stop hurting yourself! It's only hurting your friends! It's hurting me!"

The word friend seemed to immediately stop. He was perfectly fine with suffering himself if the situation called for it, but to see friends suffer by his own actions?

To see Yang suffering?

Simply unacceptable.

With his anger depleted and with his mind returning to its previous calm, Jaune hung his head low, ashamed.

"Why?" He whispered to no one in particular. "Why can't things just go right for once?"

Yang too had calmed herself, and now she remembered why she was here to begin with. She had to help him.

"Hey," she said, reaching out to cup his chin and force him to face her. "Buck up. You can fix this. You just need to know where your heart lies."

"I don't even know that." He leaned into her touch. "Honestly, sometimes, trying to find out who I am is an impossible task. Giving up is so easy, but… if it hurts my team, my friends, then I must push on. For them"

"See?" She placed both arms around his neck and hugged him. "You're stronger than you realize."

"My friends give me my strength." He closed his arms around her slowly. "But I will try to take that to heart."

There it was again, that feeling of utter contentment. Such a simple gesture of closeness was more than enough for both of them right here, right now.

They were positively glowing, in more ways than one.

* * *

 **My most sincerest apologies to my readers that waited for almost two months for one chapter. I'm mostly to blame. Trance Sephiroth says to tell you guys that he's partly to blame, but I won't let him take the blame. So if you're going to kill someone, kill me instead.**

 **So I might as well have begun to sink Arkos, even if nobody still knows about what's going on between Yang and Jaune. To all you Arkos shippers out there, know this. I adore the ship as much as you guys do, but why write about canon fics when you can let your imagination go wild?**

 **And speaking of that, I've got a poll up asking what my next story should be about. I've got story ideas at the bottom of my bio page, and I want to know what people think is the best idea to write about. All you got to do is read the story ideas and vote for your favorite one. Follow the poll instructions.**

 **So what did you guys think? Here is what I think to be some likely responses:**

 **Why you...**

 **My poor heart! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS!**

 **I will destroy you! (Psychotic Biotic style)**

 **Make way for Dragon Slayer/Firewall! So long, Arkos!**

 **AWWW, Jaune and Yang fluff!**

 **Too... much... can't... take... fluff... over...load... AHHH**

 **This is extremely cheesy and SO NOT REAL!**

 **JUST SAY THOSE THREE WORDS ALREADY!**

 **Screw this! I'm outta here! You suck!**

 **Eh, same old, same old.**

 **Regardless of your thoughts, leave a review so I know what the buzz is. Also, if my readers would be so kind as to humor me. How many of you have read this story and become a real shipper of Yang and Jaune?**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading, and remember:**

 _ **"Always do what you are afraid to do."**_

 **Ralph Waldo Emerson**

 **Peace!**


	13. Ch 13: Your Love is My Drug

Beta Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Art: **Makentsu**

Chapter 13: Your Love is My Drug

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Library**

Pyrrha wrung her hands nervously.

She knew Blake was going to appear any moment now and her instincts were telling her that things were urgent. Blake didn't leave any hints as to why she wanted to meet, only that they do so after dinner.

The meeting aside, the spartan warrior was not quite as spirited as she had felt earlier that day. She had thought a lot about a certain blond boy. The memory of their kiss tugged at her heartstrings quite a bit, yet his actions afterwards had led her to conclude that she was slowly losing what she wanted, something she wanted a lot.

She picked up the sound of someone approaching, and to her relief, it was the Faunus girl, looking like a person on a mission.

"You look determined." Pyrrha had to note that fact. "What have you learned?"

"Enough for us." Blake grabbed her arm. "Come with me. It's not safe to speak here."

Normally, she would've done as Blake asked, but before she could formulate a response, she was already being dragged along by the Faunus girl.

Now this was truly weird behavior coming from a girl who was normally so calm and controlled, at least outwardly. Pyrrha had seen Blake's face many times, but not with the tension that sat there now. So, the red-haired champion let herself be pulled along, though not without a rising sense of apprehension.

Blake guided Pyrrha to a lesser-used section of the library where students were scarce and the likelihood of being heard was very low. The black-haired girl stopped at a table with two seats, and when she sat down, so too did the redhead.

"Should I be worried?" Pyrrha tugged her arm from Blake's grasp.

"That depends on what you're about to see next." Blake activated her scroll. "I don't even know what to say."

The Mistrallian native's eyes followed Blake's fingers as she activated her scroll and began to fiddle with the touch screen. She recognized the photo app being pulled up, and fingers scrolling through a collection of shots in her library. For a girl who was very introverted, she carried a lot of pictures, not exactly something Pyrrha expected.

It took only a few moments for Blake to locate what she was looking for. Another tap and a photo showed up. Pyrrha only caught a glimpse before Blake covered it with her hands, but she could have sworn she saw…

"Pyrrha, listen to me." Blake's tone demanded her attention. "I need you to look at this and not do anything irrational."

"Why, what's wrong?" Pyrrha titled her head. "Is what you discovered that profound?"

"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid." Blake repeated her demand again. "I need to know that you can be trusted with this."

So, it was serious if Blake was making her swear. Pyrrha now desperately wanted to know what had been found, but she wouldn't be herself if she didn't honor an agreement. She always kept promises.

"I swear that I will approach this as a sane person." Pyrrha even raised her right hand. "And if I break this promise, may I be curse me for eternity."

"I didn't need that level of promise, but it'll do." Blake took a long breath of air, the released it forcefully. "Alright, here it goes."

As timidly as she'd ever seen Blake act, the hand that covered the scroll was slowly removed and the device was flipped over so that she could see what had been found.

Pyrrha stared at it.

Hard.

Harder.

She remained still as stone, only blinking.

"Well?"

No response from the spartan.

"..."

"Pyrrha, say something."

The only thing Pyrrha did was take the scroll and bring it closer to her face, her eyes looking over every detail, every pixel, every color, every object, every little thing.

Nobody was there to witness the two of them, and even if there were, they would only see two girls, the first staring at the second, and the second staring a scroll that was inches from her face.

In very high resolution, was the image of Jaune and Yang in the cafeteria, both of them a complete mess. That was only a minor detail to Pyrrha. What made her blood stream turn to a frozen river was what they were doing.

Lip to lip contact, with both of them taking part in it.

Her first instinct was to get up.

"Pyrrha! Sit down!" Blake hissed at her lightly. "You promised no rash actions!"

Yes, she had promised that.

She had to get back in control.

She took her seat again.

Slowly.

"Where… where did you get this?" Pyrrha set the scroll down on the table. "Where, Blake?"

"From Sun and Neptune." Blake's response was calm. "And they seemed genuinely surprised by it in a way."

"I see." No, Pyrrha didn't see. She didn't want to see. "And they didn't specify where they got it?"

"Knowing the two of them, I didn't want to ask. I trust that this isn't some elaborate joke, because even they have to know how serious the consequences would be if it was, but given recent events…"

The scroll was between them and they both looked at it. The image was just so out of this world. They knew something was going on, but something like this?

"So this is what they've been hiding?" Pyrrha's head in her hands left her mood out in the open. "By the Gods. This is…"

"Pyrrha, are you feeling okay?" It was a stupid question, Blake realized, but she what else could she say? "I know that you like Jaune…"

"Like is such a little word." Pyrrha rubbed her closed eyes. "I feel something greater for Jaune."

"Love?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well…"

Awkward.

"You don't need to say anything, Blake."

"I wasn't going to. I don't even-"

"You don't know what to say. It's fine. Neither do I."

"So what now?"

…

"I want to talk to Jaune."

"Is that a good idea?"

"What would you have me do then?"

"Wait."

"Why?"

"Because it's not the right time. I talked to Yang earlier today and she explained the situation a bit."

"And?"

"It's complicated, at least that's what she said, but I had no idea that it had gotten this far. And before you ask, no it's not like you're thinking."

"What am I supposed to think?"

"I'm thinking that you're thinking that they're in a relationship. C'mon, that's ridiculous and insane. Nobody can enter a relationship having known each other for only two weeks."

That was true, albeit, the bowed girl's words could be said about any normal relationship. What was going on here was clearly not in the realm of ordinary, so the statement's effects weren't quite as strong as intended.

"You seem skeptical, Pyrrha."

"What about this is normal, Blake?"

"Pardon?"

"Be honest with me. Everything that's happened between the two of them has been nothing but the product of factors we don't fully know about. All we know is that they have a relationship. The nature of it isn't known to us and yet we're placing labels on it like we know all we need to know."

"I was just trying to be realistic."

"And there's the problem. Realism can't be applied in all situations. We have to consider other possibilities."

"Like what?"

"You said that you were trying to research more on the matter of their auras. That exercise today in Professor Port's class, that had to catch your eye."

Gold eyes cast a thoughtful look at the table while emerald eyes waited for an answer. That had to be a look of consideration, otherwise there wouldn't be any hesitation.

"It did, but right now, the only thing I have to go off of are speculations and theories, no concrete evidence."

"It's better than nothing. Please tell me."

Blake sighed. "Alright… there's an old book in the library that talked about more experimental aura techniques and tricks. The one that caught my eye had to do with aura melding."

"Like for transferring aura for healing purposes?" Pyrrha questioned.

"No, that's different." Blake twiddled her thumbs. "This aura melding I'm talking about suggests a powerful intimate connection… an emotionally intimate connection."

The words struggled to come out. Those words could have a very bad effect, but how else she frame them that wasn't harmful in some way? The damage was done, and there wasn't a silver lining to be found.

"Intimate?" Pyrrha sounded so afraid.

Well, there was no more sense in trying to sugar-coat it.

"When the melding happens, it's due to a really intense emotional state that both participants share in." Blake paused for a moment. "But still, I'm adamant that they couldn't have moved so quickly."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because if there's one thing Yang doesn't do, it's lie."

"That is a fair point, but I can't just ignore this and claim that they're doing it for fun."

"Pyrrha, sometimes that's exactly what it is. You don't need to be in a relationship to be physically intimate. Who knows what's going on between them? They could be just fooling around.

"I know Jaune. He's not one to do something like that. He's far too traditionalist to do that. And Yang never struck me as the sort of person that just fools around like this."

"Okay, since you seem so adamant about finding out the truth, then we'll go ask Jaune."

"Right. Ask Jaune."

Blake sensed the lapse. "You're not backing down, are you?"

Pyrrha squinted her eyes at Blake. "Well excuse me for not being able to be as decisive as you want me to be."

"Sorry, that's not what I meant." Blake tried to calm Pyrrha down. "I'm just asking you if you can ask him, because he's the only one who might be able to tell us more."

Pyrrha studied her fidgeting hands in her laps. Her breathing was quiet, but it was still unsteady. Her fingers curled and uncurled. She felt so trapped in place, not sure what to do. All of what was going on… it was nothing she was prepared for.

"I…" Pyrrha's eyes fell on the clock for five seconds. "I…"

"I think that you need time to consider your next move." Blake got up from her seat. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but sooner or later, you're going to have to bring this up. I've seen what happens when you let something eat away at you."

"I understand." Pyrrha acknowledged Blake's words.

Blake could only give what Pyrrha saw as a look of disbelief, which was replaced by a sad look.

"I gotta do some stuff before getting back to the dorms." Blake pushed in her chair. "Just don't do anything that you'll regret later."

"Yes." Pyrrha said fleetingly. "Understood."

Blake's footsteps didn't even register to Pyrrha as she sat there. The scroll was grabbed from the table and the four-time champion was left there, her face no longer hiding what she felt inside.

This had to be why he didn't respond to her kiss.

This had to be why Yang jumped to help him so much.

It made sense, but what made sense be damned.

What were those two thinking?

It would be so easy to get mad at Jaune, get mad at Yang. The very thought of ranting at them had crossed her mind very much. Yes, the very thought of taking her anger and using it felt so appealing.

She had been there for Jaune, trained him, believed in him, and always supported him no matter what, yet it wasn't enough. He didn't like her that way.

And Yang? How dare she take away the one person that she had set her eyes on. Two weeks and she could get from Jaune what she desired.

Pyrrha gasped at the revelation.

She finally admitted it to herself, the thing she wanted the most from Jaune Arc.

She wanted him as a boyfriend, and maybe more.

She needed to talk to Jaune.

She got up and left.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Team JNPR's Dorm**

A short while ago, Ren and Nora had returned to find Jaune in what they perceived to be a normal mood, which was bright and cheery, so they could only assume that Yang had done her job well enough.

As Jaune promised, he and Ren had gotten to work on studying. Nora, having chosen not to join them, instead opted to watch them all the while using her bed as a trampoline as she did at least once a week.

"So I just got this great idea!" Nora bounced once on her bed. "It's like the most awesome idea ever!"

"And what is that Nora?" Ren continued to work at his desk.

"That Yang and Jaune should go on a date!"

Jaune whirled around from his place on his bed. "WHAT!?"

Nora did a flip while bouncing. "I said that you and Yang should go-"

"I heard the first time!" Jaune shouted frantically. "But where on Remnant did that idea come from?"

"Jaune, it's Nora." Ren reminded his team leader.

"Cursed Gods." Jaune face-palmed himself. "Can't argue with that logic."

"Hey, I'm right here you know!" Nora shifted her glare at both boys. "And FYI, my ideas are intelligent!"

"Anyways, why is Jaune and Yang going on a date a good idea?" Ren looked back to Nora.

"Don't encourage her!" Jaune hissed at the green-clad warrior.

"Well, I've got a lot of reasons." Nora bounced one more time before landing on her stomach. "Firstly, they're friends."

"Friends don't go on dates." Ren pointed out.

"And that's all Yang and I are right now." Jaune crossed his arms. "Just friends."

"Right now?" Nora grinned slyly. "So you plan to be more?"

"T-that's not what I meant and you know it!" Jaune's scowl was as dangerous as it was humorous.

"Oh, I know what you mean, Jaune-Jaune!" Nora was suddenly in front of him, a finger on his nose. "And you guys are really special friends!"

"That's still not a reason for us to go on a date." Jaune held his ground.

"Oh really?" Nora held her scroll up. "Then explain this."

Jaune looked at the photo.

It was of him and Yang kissing that night in the cafeteria.

"W-w-where did you get that?"

"Found it on the school blog." Ren put his pencil down. "It's gotten quite the feedback."

"Who posted this?" Jaune grabbed Nora's scroll. "Who…"

He saw who posted it.

"... we're so dead." Jaune dropped the scroll "We are so dead. We are so dead. We are so dead. We are so dead."

"Jaune, calm down!" Ren tried.

"Calm down." Jaune laughed. "I don't know what that means."

"And this is reason one why you two should go on a date!" Nora sung it out. "Wanna hear reason two?"

"No." Jaune tried to make himself smaller. "I'm just gonna let my life flash before my eyes before I die."

"What, do you think Yang will do something that drastic?" Ren asked, slight alarm in his voice.

"If not her, then Pyrrha will." Jaune then had a thought. "Wait, when was this posted?"

"Um, some time before dinner." Nora looked at the date and time of the post. "Why?"

"Them maybe she doesn't know about that." Jaune tried to rationalize a way. "Maybe she doesn't know yet."

"I know Jaune." The sound of Pyrrha voice was unmistakable.

All heads turned to see their teammates and resident ass-kicker in the doorway, she was clearly unhappy.

"H-how much have you heard?" Jaune hid his face from her.

"Enough." Pyrrha didn't sound angry.

With no place left to turn, it was now time to face the music. Someone was going to have to fess up sooner or later, and he preferred that the truth be the source of gossip and not rumors. With effort, he stood up.

"Pyrrha, this isn't what it looks like."

That seemed to agitate her. "Isn't it? Then explain, Jaune. Please explain how you two kissing isn't what I think it is."

"Yang and I, we're… exploring." That's the best he could conjure without lying. "I honestly don't even know how it got started. The spark was just… there."

"Just there?" Now she seemed even more disgruntled. "Just there?! Is that it?!"

"What do you want from me, Pyrrha?!" There was a frenzied hitch in his voice.

Ren and Nora spared each other a look.

Oh how they wanted to leave, but they also didn't want to interrupt.

"I want…" Pyrrha hugged herself, forcing down tears. "I've wanted you, Jaune. I've always wanted you. From the very moment I spotted you, something ignited my interest in you, and it's only evolved into… this."

Two truths were out in the open now, and now it was both the team leader and his partner who had to respond.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha." Jaune slowly approached Pyrrha. "I'm so sorry that you've felt this way for so long and I didn't know it."

"Jaune…" Ren could almost see what he was going to say next.

"But I can't be that for you." The leader of JNPR continued to slowly walk to his partner. "Believe me, I don't want to make you miserable, and maybe if things weren't what they are now, I would say yes, but so much has changed."

"How?" Pyrrha glared. "How have things changed? Why can't you reciprocate what I feel?"

"Because I don't share the same feelings you do."

A pin could drop in the room right now and everyone would be able to hear it like one of Nora's grenades.

For months, everyone had been wondering if the blond boy was so dense that the only way to get him to notice the spartan would be for her to wave neon signs in front of his face. He was no ladies' man and he knew it, yet he'd tried so hard with Weiss in the past, and even with other girls. Surely if he knew Pyrrha had a thing for him, he'd embrace her. He was a guy after all.

But to know that he didn't even have any feelings for her? Not even in the slightest?

That couldn't be ignored.

"I see." Pyrrha's eyes cast a destitute look.

"I didn't mean to lead you on." Jaune again approached her.

"So do you pine for Yang?" Pyrrha swallowed. "Is she who you want?"

"… I don't… I don't even know how to answer that." Jaune blinked.

"It's a simple question, Jaune. Do you like Yang or not?"

"I can't just say it like that, Pyrrha. There's so much you don't understand. There's so much I don't understand. There's so much Yang doesn't understand."

Another spell of silence was cast over the room. Emotions were highly unstable, postures were stiff, eyes bore a world of feelings. Let the world collapse in on itself and, in this moment, it wouldn't be noticed or even matter to JNPR.

"Did you ever feel anything for me?" Pyrrha was within striking distance of her leader. "Did it ever cross your mind that I was here while you courted other girls?"

Jaune immediately picked up on what Pyrrha was hinting at. He felt bad, truly he did, but now, he felt like he was being cornered unfairly, like somehow this was his fault for not picking up on Pyrrha feelings from the beginning?

"Pyrrha, you know that I'm socially awkward." Jaune wanted to be reasonable. "I've never had a real friend before Beacon, and neither have you for that matter. You said it yourself earlier today."

Pyrrha's heated mood appeared to give way to his words, replaced instead by a widening of her eyes.

"Knowing that, and short of telling me outright, how do you expect me to just know what you're thinking? I'm not a mind-reader."

The spartan remained silent, her eyes shut tight and her fists clamped shut. Her shoulders remained tense. That made the knight stop for the moment. He was doing it again, hurting her, something he had never wanted to do in the first place.

"And what about the times you attempted to court Weiss?" Pyrrha stuttered, but persisted. "You could see her, but not me?"

"That's not-" Jaune stopped, then started. "I didn't mean-"

"Am I not good enough for you?" Pyrrha muttered. "Is that it?"

"What?!" He looked shocked. "No, that's not it!"

"Then why couldn't you notice me?!" She was close to yelling. "Why Weiss?! Why Yang?!"

Jaune found himself completely lost for words. Where was all of this coming from? Sure, he once had an interest in Weiss, and yes he and Yang had something going on, but surely this didn't warrant any sort of anger.

Pyrrha turned her back. "Did it ever occur to you that I wanted more out of our relationship? Did it ever occur to you that I thought of you as more than my friend?"

"I…" Jaune felt it, that sense of guilt.

Ren and Nora dared not to say a word.

"I've always been the one to be selfless, putting the needs of others above my own needs. It's who I am." Pyrrha touched a hand to her chest. "I have always been blessed with opportunities and chances to excel at my goal of becoming a huntress."

Nobody had the ability to stop Pyrrha from saying what she wanted, and even if they tried, there was no doubt she would interrupt them.

"After all that I have done, after everything that I've accomplished for others," Pyrrha's arm quivered. "IS IT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR THAT I GET ONE THING THAT I WANT!?"

With her fist tight as possible, she threw it hard, and the sheer power was enough to completely cave in the wall where she struck. Everyone in the room flinched at this rage, followed by a ragged set of breaths.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune ventured, "Please-"

"SHUT UP!" She rounded to face him. "YOU DID THIS!"

Jaune froze, but he didn't back down. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He never thought he'd ever break a girl's heart, not in a million years.

Gods curse him straight to hell.

A strained stillness followed. Jaune had unknowingly prepared his aura, as had Ren and Nora. Another spark and there would be an explosion beyond anything controllable.

Then her fury ended and all control she had on her tears was lost as she sobbed and blubbered. JNR didn't have long to witness this as she took off.

"PYRRHA!" Jaune felt like he'd been stabbed. "WAIT!"

He didn't get far as Nora leaped on him, causing him to fall face-first into the floor. He tried to get up, but the bomber held him down with her strength.

"Get off, Nora!" Jaune struggled.

"You're a complete nitwit!" Nora pushed him down harder. "Do you think you're gonna be able to do anything?!"

"Nora's right." Ren's tone was urgent, yet still calm. "You'd only make it worse."

"But I can-"

"No, you cannot, Jaune."

"I-"

"Shut it, Jaune-Jaune!"

The door to their room was flung open violently. There stood Ruby. She only took a moment to puzzle over the strange situation she'd stumbled upon before saying words.

"Jaune, we've got a problem."

"Can it wait?" Jaune wasn't ready to deal with another problem. "We're busy."

"I need you now!" Ruby wouldn't let up. "Like RIGHT NOW!"

"For WHAT?" Jaune exasperated. "What could I possibly-"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" That voice, it sounded like Yang. "WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU'D BETTER NOT BE PLANNING TO HAVE CHILDREN!"

The door behind Ruby flew open and Yang charged out, eyes completely red and her hair glowing aggressively. Jaune's first thought was that he'd done something wrong.

That thought was dashed as Yang barreled down the hall.

"What's going… oh shit." Jaune slammed a fist into the floor. "She saw it."

"HELP!" Ruby shouted.

"Going! I'm going!" Jaune spared a look of apology to remaining members of JNPR in the room. "Ren, Nora, find Pyrrha! Make sure she's okay!"  
The NR of the team had no time to respond as their leader took off in a sprint, grabbing Crocea Mors along the way, and with Ruby following closely.

"Don't you think we should help?" Nora asked.

"I think it's best that we let Jaune do this." Ren spoke. "Besides, Pyrrha needs us right now. She can't see Jaune."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Team RWBY's Dorm**

 **Some time earlier…**

Ruby had given up on studying for the night. It was such hard work keeping her grades up. How was she going to last until the end of the year? More importantly, how was she going to survive three more years?

After two hours, Ruby had simply lost the will to study with any form of productivity and had adjourned for the day. She felt that she had a good handle on what she was doing. That upcoming exam…she was gonna ace it.

Conversely, there was Weiss, sitting at the desk, writing away with much vigor and dedication. If she didn't get a perfect score, no doubt the heiress would pop a blood vessel, and that almost made Ruby want to laugh out loud. Instead, she dumbed it down to a mere snicker.

Yang lay atop her bed, reading a magazine, and remaining unnaturally quiet; she usually talked enough for everyone. Ruby wasn't sure what to make of it. How had that talk with Jaune gone? Where they okay? She would've already asked if not for the look Yang was sporting that told everyone not to ask her about it. Tomorrow, she would either talk about it or Ruby would find out otherwise.

Blake had yet to return to the room, saying that she wanted to talk to Pyrrha. The B of RWBY had tried to downplay it, but Ruby suspected that their meetings had to do with Yang and Jaune. She was naive, she knew that, but she wasn't stupid.

The only thing that was demanding her attention right now was her scroll. Because she had internally declared that she was done studying, she had resorted to browsing the web, just looking through various news outlets, maybe watching some videos, and just reading random stuff.

"Are you done studying, Ruby?" Weiss's question was expected.

"Yep." She popped the last letter. "No more for me."

"You only got two hours in today." Weiss didn't turn to her, but she must look disappointed. "That's not enough considering all the classes we have."

"It's enough for me." Ruby clicked on a link. "Besides, I couldn't work anymore, even if you forced me to."

"Somehow, I believe you." Weiss flipped to the next page in her textbook. "I'll take a look at your work later once I finish mine."

"Thank you." Ruby lay flat on her bed with her legs dangling over the side. "Peace and quiet."

"Do you even know the meaning of those two words, Ruby?" Yang turned the page in her magazine. "Like, at all?"

"Do you?" Ruby felt just a bit offended. "I mean, you're you."

"Hey, being the social one isn't all fun and games." Yang turned on her side. "I appreciate down times just fine."

"Then start showing it more." Weiss titled her head ever-so slightly. "I could use more quiet study time."

"There's a library for a reason, Weiss." Yang reasoned.

"But it's not private." The heiress huffed. "I require more than simple quiet."

"It's not exactly private here either." Yang chuckled at her teammate's words. "There are four of us living in here."

Weiss said nothing in response, and with that, serenity returned to the room. Ruby continued to browse, Weiss continued to study, and Yang continued to read.

Then Weiss put down her pencil.

Something was off.

"Yang, what's gotten into you?"

"Hmm?"

Ruby put down her scroll to see what was going on. This sounded like something that she couldn't afford to miss.

"You sound different." Weiss pointed out. "Very different."

"How?" Yang adopted a puzzled expression.

"Like that." Weiss raised a finger. "You're not making jokes. You're not being rambunctious. You're just going about like a typical person."

"Is that a bad thing?" Yang tilted her head to the right.

"See, like that!" Weiss's voice sounded nervous. "Normal! That's not you!"

"Um." Yang looked around the room as if it would give her the answer she wanted. "I guess it's been a long day. I don't have the energy to be me."

"That… sounds creepy when you say it." Ruby added her thoughts. "Nothing can sap you of your energy."

Yang yawned loudly. "Well, there's a first for everything, but if you want a joke, I've got one right now."

"We didn't mean to say-" Weiss was too late to stop what was coming.

Yang hopped down from her bed and took a good look at what Weiss was studying. When she saw the contents, an idea popped up.

"You study so much dust chemistry, Weiss." Yang scanned the pages. "You should really take these chemicals and barium."

Ruby scratched her head in wonder while Weiss simply lowered her head and groaned loudly.

"Huh?" Ruby was lost. "What'd I miss?"

"Barium?" Yang looked at Ruby like she was stupid. "The element on the periodic table? You never read that before?"

"I know what the table is." Ruby glared at her sister. "I just didn't know about that element specifically."

"I did." Weiss's voice was muffled. "And it was terrible."

"Hey, you asked for jokes, didn't you?" Yang shrugged in indifference. "Who am I to deny the request of the SDC heiress?"

Nobody said anything for six seconds.

Then Ruby did. "You didn't tease Weiss."

"What, Ruby?" Yang's hips tilted.

"You usually tease people right after you make terrible jokes." Ruby explained. "You didn't just now."

"Okay, number one, my jokes are awesome." Yang crossed her arms. "And number two, I'm fine, thank you both for asking."

"Geez, take it easy, Yang." Ruby pulled back. "It was just an observation."

"I seem to be getting that a lot lately, and it's getting under my skin." Yang threw her arms up. "I don't get it. It's like I have to stick to my trademark stunts to be normal."

"We didn't mean-" Ruby began.

"I don't wanna hear it!" Yang climbed back to her bed. "Now everyone shut up and let me read!"

A moody Yang was never a pleasing thing to deal with.

Weiss looked at Ruby and motioned for her to come closer to her. Ruby, careful not to let her cape snag, got down and huddled next to her partner.

"I know what you're thinking." Ruby said in a hushed tone. "And I kinda agree."

"I didn't say that it was bad." Weiss whispered back. "I just thought it was different. Who knows what it means."

"Yet you sound concerned."

Weiss, from the corner of her eyes, peeked at Yang, who was still laying on her bed, reading away. Ruby turned her head to look too. Then their eyes were back on each other's.

"This short time she's made friends with Jaune…" Weiss collected her thoughts, "It's been unusual. Both him and Yang have exhibited extremely unusual behavior."

"Yeah, okay, I get that." Ruby nodded her head in agreement. "But what about it is making you all jittery?"

"I don't get jittery. I get uneasy, but anyways, it is prudent that we keep an eye out for any signs of trouble."

"But you don't wanna get to the bottom of this?"

"Blake and Pyrrha seem to be doing that just fine. I have no reason to nose around, and I don't see anything too out of the ordinary."

"I'm sensing that there's more to the story."

"... I've had a rocky relationship with most of my family. All my life has been shaped by someone. Coming to Beacon Academy was one of the few choices that I can claim that I made on my own. If there's one thing I never want to become, it's a control freak, not like my father was."

"Ooohh." Ruby felt like a light bulb lit up over her head. "I get it now."

"So you understand?" Weiss smiled. "I hoped that you would."

"I should know." Ruby winked. "After all, you were a control freak for a time."

"I was adjusting is all." Weiss turned her head away. "Call it a misplaced attitude."

"Call it what you like, Weiss." Ruby tussled her hair. "You were a control freak when we first became a team."

"I was not!" Weiss cried out in indignation.

"Do you guys mind?" Yang called out. "I'm reading here."

Again, coming from Yang, that sounded extremely out of place. Ruby moved to say something, but her brain stopped her mouth as Weiss gripped her shoulder and shook her head. A flash passed as both Weiss and Ruby stared at each other, then Ruby nodded her head to conclude their conversation.

Everyone went back to what they were doing.

It then occurred to Ruby that she needed to get more work done, but seeing that she had no fuel left to even pick up a textbook and take notes, she thought of something else. It was no secret that students posted answers on the school blog in order to share knowledge.

Weiss called it lazy.

Blake called it a waste of time.

Yang called it a life saver.

Ruby called it resourceful.

To each her own.

So she opened the school blog on her scroll. As usual, the first thing to pop up was the home page, which displayed the most popular recent news. Today, there seemed to be an extremely popular front page posting.

Checking the user who had posting, Ruby saw Sun's username, and she giggled slightly. Just what had that boy done to garner this amount of attention from the student body?

Curiosity befalling her, the red reaper tapped the post, then scrolled down. There was no text, just a picture.

Her eyes widened.

What.

The.

Heck.

Were they… kissing?

No, no, this had to be a joke.

Ruby dared to chance a look at Yang, who's eyes hadn't strayed from what she was doing. As discreetly as she could manage, the leader of Team RWBY hopped down and approached Weiss once again.

A slight tap on the head got her attention.

"What?" Weiss wasn't amused.

Ruby held her scroll at an angle that wouldn't allow Yang to see.

Weiss stared at it, then she looked at Yang, then back to the picture, then to Yang. Her head began to move back and forth between the scroll and the buxom brawler.

Then door opened and Blake walked in.

"I'm back." Blake announced to the room. "Just had to pick up some…"

The moment golden eyes saw Ruby and Weiss huddled over the scroll, she looked harder, then she saw the screen.

The whole room went silent. Three heads turned to look at Yang. The blonde girl glanced their way and they quickly turned to look at anything but her.

"Hey, what's cookin' over there?" Yang asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Ruby blurted out first.

"Nothing at all." Weiss repeated next.

"Ditto to those two." Blake said last.

"I don't believe you guys." Yang closed the magazine. "Must be good if you're hiding it from me."

"Really, it's nothing." Blake moved to shield her teammates. "As you were, partner."

"Right now, I wanna know what you guys are gawking at." Yang's boots hit the floor. "Because it looks interesting."

"Yang, trust us." Weiss tried to dissuade next. "It's nothing that you'd care to look at."

"Really?" Yang looked really menacing right now. "Then there should be no problem if I see it."

"Yang, pretty please?" Ruby pleaded again. "I'll make you lots of cookies."

"Tempting, but no." Yang tried to sneak a peek over everyone, which made them move to block her view. "So it's on the school blog."

Yang pulled out her scroll and began to type in the address. When Blake moved to stop her, Yang dodged out of the way.

"My scroll." Yang threatened. "Hands off, Blake."

None of RWB wanted to use force to stop Yang.

"Yang, don't." Ruby rushed forward. "It's just a post by Sun, nothing interesting about it."

Again, Yang got out of reach, and Ruby, realizing her mistake, shut her mouth and used her hands to cover it up as well.

Yang pulled up the post, then stared hard at it.

A second.

Two seconds.

Three.

Four.

Yang's hands tightening into fists. Ember Celica switching into combat mode. Her aura glowing brightly. Her eyes twitching, closing, then opening.

Red.

A crinkling sound.

They had maybe a few more seconds.

Ruby suddenly got a great idea: get Jaune and get him to diffuse this situation.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Are you sure it was a good idea putting that up?" Neptune was sitting on his bed, looking across at his leader. "This isn't exactly our business."

"We told Blake, didn't we?" Sun read his comic book. "And we're fine."

"That's different." Neptune flicked a piece of dust off of his coat. "Blake is Yang's partner."

"Come on, you said it yourself." Sun continued to insist. "Those two are pulling a fast one over all of us."

"I didn't say that." Neptune disagreed. "I said that it could be a fast one, not that it is."

"Technicalities." Sun sounded uninterested. "This is why you don't have a girlfriend."

"Hey!" Neptune wasn't the least bit pleased. "I'm perfectly fine with girls!"

"Uh-huh." Sun couldn't sound any less convinced.

"Seriously, though." Neptune quickly switched back to the original conversation. "We could be in some deep sh-crap."

"Tsk tsk, another reason why you're no fun sometimes." Sun said as he lightly shook his head. "Live a little, take some risks."

"There are just some risks you don't take, especially when it comes to women who can kick your ass."

"Oh, c'mon, Nep, lighten up. It's not like she's gonna come in here, guns blazing and kill us."

No sooner had those words slipped from his mouth than the door to their temporary room began to smoke from the crack at the bottom. The door then burst open with enough force that it was torn from its hinges. Both Neptune and Sun grabbed their weapons on instinct and prepared themselves for the inevitable fight on their hands.

"You just had to open your damn mouth." Neptune pointed his rifle. "Didn't you."

"Hey, you didn't exactly stop me." Sun did his best glare. "You should've done so as my friend."

Yang stepped into the room, looking like a goddess of death.

"YOU!" She pointed Ember Celica at Sun. "LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY TWO LITTLE FRIENDS!"

"Yang, wait!" Neptune pleaded. "This doesn't have to end violently!"

"AND YOU!" Yang aimed her other gauntlet at Neptune. "UNLESS YOU WANNA JOIN HIM, OUTTA THE WAY!"

Sun's first move was to dodge the first shot fired at him. Staff at the ready, he twirled it to block the remaining shotgun shells discharged. He needed to get out of the room and get himself more open space so he could hold Yang off long enough for help to arrive.

"Neptune, call for help!" He made for the door. "Don't follow me!"

Another evasion later, he bolted through the doorway and made for the exit.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Yang's aura flared as she gave chase. "COME BACK HERE!"

"Shit, shit shit!" Neptune, still in the partially destroyed room, grabbed his scroll. "Call the teachers, call the teachers!"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang was on a mission.

The first and only priority was to make sure that Sun Wukong would learn a lesson he wouldn't soon forget. Killing him was too easy.

No, she had a much more agonizing punishment for him.

That monkey had ruined things.

She knew he was going outside, trying to get away from her, but she wouldn't lose sight of him, and she wasn't fazed at all by the gunshots that he'd fired back at her. Even without her aura, she would still resist the shots.

Rage. Anger. Fury.

That bastard.

Some students dotted the hallways, and the ones that weren't fast enough to get out of the way were tossed against the walls, leaving dents every so often, but they didn't matter. As far as the blonde brawler was concerned, they were insignificant.

Putting more energy into her strides, she destroyed the door leading outside. The sun was already dipping behind the horizon. Soon, it would be nighttime.

She raised both gauntlets and fired. Sun had to slow down to block. She produced another burst of speed and closed the distance. Her fist in his back was enough to send him crashing to the ground.

He scrambled to his feet in time to dodge her fist as it made contact with the ground, cracking some of the foundation.

She moved in and unleashed a fusillade of moves. The Faunus was only successful in holding off the first five punches. The other five connected with his chest, his abdomen, and his head.

Had she been in her right mind, she would see that he had been completely drained of aura, leaving just his unprotected body.

But she wasn't.

"Yang, wait!" Sun turned himself. "I can explain!"

"Too late!" She cracked her knuckles. "Now hold still so I can take your balls!"

"Now that is a truly horrible idea!" Sun moved his hands to protect his crotch.

"An eye for an eye, Sunny boy!" Yang raised an aura-augmented fist "Can't say I'll regret this one bit!"

She raised Ember Celica and Sun prayed that the pain would be quick.

With a final cry, she channeled all of the energy she could and sent it flying.

What she didn't realize was that someone, aura active, stepped in between them.

So she couldn't understand why her fist made contact with something that wasn't Sun, and sent that something flying and crashing into the ground, creating a trench that stretched some distance, only coming to a stop after friction got to work.

But she couldn't miss the pain that lanced through her body, forcing her to her hands and knees, gasping like poles were jabbing at her.

She felt like she'd just tasted her own medicine.

She hadn't hit Sun.

"What the hell?!" Yang shouted, standing up.

In her eyesight, she saw Crocea Mors lying next to a trench.

Wait… Crocea Mors…

"No." Her eyes widened. "No, no, no, no!"

Sun forgotten, she grabbed Crocea Mors in her hands before following the trench to it's very end.

At the end of it, she dropped to her knees.

"No, no, no, no!"

It was Jaune.

"Please, Vomit boy!" She cradled his head. "Don't do this to me! Don't do this to me!"

He didn't wake up.

He only continued to bleed.

* * *

 **I'm not sure if people are going to be more angry at what happened or that I took too long to update this story. Whatever the case, just make sure I'm still alive long enough to continue this story.**

 **The long wait is due to me getting back to school as well as a bit of a delay from Trance Sephiroth. He wasn't doing too well and so he was set back a bit. I want to give him a special thanks for getting this chapter to me.**

 **Now onto the next order of business: Pyrrha's state. My original draft didn't involve her getting this worked up, but Operator Blake was adamant that I make this move, and now that I've thought about it, it's a better idea than the one I originally had. Props to his suggestion.**

 **And a final reminder: all future RWBY stories that I'm considering are on a poll that's on my profile page. If that interests any of you in any way, take a look. It will be an ongoing poll and will be updated as I see fit. New stories won't be published until I complete a story, which might not happen for some time. Crossovers will be included. Take a look at the descriptions on my profile page for more details and then vote for your favorite.**

 **Question time: what did you all think? Oh how I can imagine what people are going to say. I'm sure some of you are going to raise hell.**

 **Again, my sincerest thanks for all of you reading the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"As soon as your trust yourself, you will know how to live."**_

 **Johann Wolfgang von Goethe**

 **Peace!**


	14. Ch 14: The Severed Hand

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 14: The Severed Hand

 **A Twilight Zone…**

"Jaune, c'mon, you're going to be okay."

Who was that talking to him?

"Just stay with me."

Everything was a blur. Lights danced all around him, his vision swam with colors. He only wished the colors were like the rainbow instead of fifty shades of grey.

Who was calling to him?

He felt sticky all over, like something was soaking his entire body.

His efforts to try and make sense of something, anything, was a fruitless effort. The best he could manage was blurs and that voice.

The light and sound faded, leaving only darkness and silence in its wake. It was brief.

There was light again, no clear source, no shapes, just light.

Darkness cut through his vision once more.

Sound returned, something was beating a rapid staccato. Footsteps maybe?

White noise. Something was happening wherever he was. He wanted to know what was going on.

"NO! I NEED TO SEE HIM!" Again, that voice.

That girl's voice… it sounded so wrong…

"Miss Xiao Long, remove yourself immediately. I will not ask again. You are already treading on thin ice as things are."

A new voice. Everything sounded strange, like he was listening from a great distance.

"B-but…" A voice that sounded extremely fragile.

"Now." Someone forceful. "This is your last warning."

Light and dark again. Black and white. Shades of grey. Colors fading in and out.

Pain. All over. Rocks were rolling inside his head, probably the reason he couldn't think straight.

"We got a heartbeat! Move him to intensive care yesterday!"

That voice didn't sound familiar, but it wasn't a threatening voice, so at least his mind hadn't turned into complete mush.

"Extent of injuries?"

"Ten broken ribs, left arm is broken and his shoulder has been dislocated. Possible moderate concussion. Internal organs may have suffered damage too. No aura left, so nothing has begun to heal.

Whose diagnosis was that? His?

"I can give him some aura. Is there anything else?"

Aura could be transferred? Why hadn't he ever heard of that? Surely, he would've caught onto that in class.

"I've got a full diagnostics."

What?

His efforts to hear what was going on around him were wasted. It wouldn't matter how hard he tried to listen in. It would seem he would be allowed to hear things at random intervals.

"How much blood loss?"

Huh? Blood loss? Where they talking about him? And whose voice was that woman's?

"Enough that he needs a blood transfusion immediately."

There was a momentary silence.

In that moment, that brief respite, he began try to make sense of the confusion that whirled through his head.

He needed to remember who he was first, so he started off with the simple stuff. Family. He had a father, a mother, and seven sisters. Yes, that was his family.

There was his father, Oliver Arc, the man who had a diamond for a heart.

His mother, Daisy Arc, the unusually cheery kind of parent.

Blanche was the youngest, and the most innocent thing ever.

Joan, his twin, the most similar to him. No secrets between them.

Mindy, the girl that could play it cool. She had quite the silver tongue.

Jin and Gwen, or as the Arc's younger than them called them, "parents lite."

Viola, the doctor. It had a nice ring to it.

Scarlet, the vengeful enforcer of the Arc's.

That was his family. He remembered them.

Good, he had a starting point.

"Give him what we have now. We'll just have to hope that he holds out until tomorrow's shipment comes."

The unfamiliar voice spoke again.

"That is not good enough. We need the blood now. You won't wait until tomorrow. He might not survive until then. Get it now. Not tomorrow. Not hours from now. Right now. Am I understood?"

That woman's voice, it sounded… familiar?

"Y-yes. Right away."

His body was shaking. He felt a slight draft. He began to see more than black and white. He saw some more colors now, his vision suddenly filled with vague shapes, but it was still dotted with spots of darkness, the little black flecks seemingly dancing in the air.

It looked like the ceiling was moving, even though he didn't think he was walking. Was someone or something moving him?

His pain receded into something more manageable. The rocks in his head turned into dust and the dust had been blown away.

His thoughts became clearer.

Where was he now? Surely, he had to have been moved?

No, what was he doing? He needed to focus on himself before focusing on his environment. He had just remembered his family. His own name and occupation would be helpful

What was his name?

That girl had just said it.

It was…

 _My name… is Jaune Arc. Yeah, that's my name. I'm a huntsman in training, and I'm the leader of team JNPR._

He muttered something, or was that in his head?

"He's regaining consciousness."

"He's not ready yet. Give him the sedative."

Sedative? Wasn't that something that they gave patients in hospitals so that the pain was minimal during operations?

Maybe it would be best if he just lay down and rested, like he probably was doing before he woke up.

How long had he been awake?

"Mr. Arc, please don't try to move." It felt like he was being held down by a hand. "Just lie still. We'll take care of you. I promise."

That sounded like one of his professors.

Glynda Goodwitch. That's who the woman was.

Panic began to fill him. What was going on with him? Who were these other people? Where was he? What had happened?

"Heart rate's off the charts. It's not working."

"Another dose." She ordered. "Now!"

They both sounded urgent.

He wouldn't get the chance to think anything else as he felt something crawl up on him and slowly beat down his consciousness. He felt his brain slow, only conscious for long enough to get a little bit more.

"We almost lost him." An unfamiliar voice spoke. "That was too close."

"You need to be more careful when handling a situation like this." Professor's Goodwitch kept a scolding voice. "I must speak with the headmaster about this, but notify me if anything changes. If his life is in danger, do what it takes to save him."

"Yes, ma'am." The unknown man conceded.

The final thing that he could see afforded him the only look of sympathy that he had ever seen Professor Goodwitch give. He would definitely not forget it, if he could even remember it, that is.

His mind began wander as the sedative took him down.

How did he come to be here?

He hazily tried to recall the last thing that he could remember.

It came upon him just as he lost consciousness, a revelation.

Yang was the reason he was like this.

Then he stopped thinking.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Some time earlier…**

"Pyrrha." Nora called out. "Come on out. We need to talk."

Ren said nothing as his partner called out to their missing spartan teammate. The only indication that he wasn't calm was his fingers constantly curling into fists, and the narrow set of his eyes.

Because they had been delayed by Ruby's arrival, finding Pyrrha was a more challenging task. Ren had to reach out with his aura to try and sniff her out so to speak. So far, he hadn't sensed her.

But he would definitely know when he did.

"Anything, Ren?" Nora sounded really worried.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "The big question is where she would go in her current mood?"

"That's the thing." Nora groaned. "We've never seen her like this."

Ren put his hands on his hips while Nora put hers on top of her head. If there was ever a time for a metaphorical lightbulb to light over their heads, now would be that time. Who knows where Pyrrha would go and what she would do.

"Maybe she's in the training room." It occurred to him. "We may never have seen Pyrrha like this, but if there's one thing I do know, she's going to stay far away from everyone until she clears her mind."

"It's better than anything I've got." Nora rushed to agree. "Let's get going."

Thankfully, Ren's idea was the right one. As they entered into the combat arenas, they could hear the sound of a familiar rifle firing.

Nora poked her heads through one of the doors. The room was empty. She tried again with the room on her other side.

"Not this one." She muttered. "You find her, Ren?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Try that one."

Nora tried the next set of doors up the hallway. She peeked into the first one. Nothing. She tried the next one. Not that one either. She tried the third one.

A bullet whizzed by the glass window, prompting her to stand on her tippy toes to get the best view that she could.

A flash of red hair.

"Ren!" Nora waved to get his attention. "Over here!"

Nora's partner joined her and looked through the window with her. He only needed a moment to see who it was.

"Pyrrha." Ren breathed. He opened the door. "Let's go, Nora."

The sounds of battle were everywhere as Pyrrha moved like a blur. The spartan was fully immersed in the battle, taking down combat drones several at a time, never stopping her flow, never hesitating in her actions, and utterly devastating in her passion.

Ren and Nora watched her from the sidelines. They knew better than to interfere right now. Once she had finished this level, they would stop her and sit her down. At least with them there was a better chance of a conversation yielding positive results, or they liked to think so.

"Level 47 complete." An automated voice sounded.

That was their cue.

Spotting the main control panel, Ren immediately shut off the system, causing the arena to halt its program. Only the lights remained operational.

Pyrrha saw the two of them from the corner of her eyes, but said nothing, did nothing to show that she cared that they were there.

"Pyrrha." Nora interrupted, stepping into the arena. "We need to talk."

The champion continued to maintain silent. Her weapons still held in her hands, but her posture less poised for combat.

"What… did you two want to talk about?" There was definite strain in Pyrrha's tone.

How could she hide it, after everything she had been through?

Nora felt herself getting ticked off already, and they hadn't even stated their reason for being here or the problem that needed to be addressed. What kind of person got mad at someone and then acted like it never happened? That was just… unacceptable on all accounts.

"Alright, first off, you can drop the act." Nora stepped up. "And if you continue to play dumb, I might just have to beat some sense into you."

"What would that do?" Pyrrha dropped her weapons. "What would me being angry accomplish?"

"What would it accomplish?" Nora didn't have to think about her answer for long. "For one, it would make you honest about what you want."

"I am being honest." Pyrrha blurted.

"No, you're hiding from the problem." Nora threw back. "You don't even have the guts to admit it yourself, let alone us."

Nora watched Pyrrha's reaction very carefully, and what she saw broke her heart just as much as it boiled her blood. Pyrrha Nikos was a strong person, the best hunter in their year. No individual had ever beaten her. No pair had ever beaten her. No team had ever beaten her. To everyone else, there was nothing that could take her down.

But try as she might to conceal her true feelings with a look of apathy, Pyrrha was no liar and her eyes reflected that much. Already, there were tears building within them, a glint that Nora could see.

The fact that she was still keeping a tight rein was… infuriating. This was not normal human behavior. It was unacceptable.

"How long do you think you can avoid Jaune for?" Nora continued without regret. "Until tomorrow? A few more days? A week? A month?

"..." Pyrrha wouldn't even look at the two of them. "..."

"Go on!" Nora shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "We can stay like this all day if we have to!"

"..." Still the redhead wouldn't cave in.

"Pyrrha." Ren spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "The longer you draw this out, the worse things will get. You don't have to like the truth, but if you can't accept it for what it is, then we're going to be dealing with a lot more than-"

The sound of someone's scroll silenced Ren, and he reached into his pocket. It was a poor time to be receiving a call, but he reached for his scroll by instinct. He would have put it back in his pocket, but when he saw the caller, he immediately answered.

"Professor Ozpin?"

A moment of silence.

Then Ren's face hardened.

Nora noticed it, and Pyrrha saw it from the corner of his eyes.

"Where is he?" Now the green-clad boy sounded frantic. "Understood. Thank you."

He shut off his scroll, his hands twitching.

"We need to go now."

"What?" Nora exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because Jaune's in intensive care."

…

…

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Team RWBY's Dorm…**

The atmosphere in Team RWBY's dorm was unpleasant, and not the kind where Ruby's cooking made a mess, not the kind where Weiss was ranting on about what her teammates were doing wrong, not the kind where Blake was caught in one of her… awkward moments, and not the kind where Yang was ranting about her hair not being perfect.

All those previous times, while initially uncomfortable, were a result of the perpetrator being simply oblivious to what she was causing. Call it their team's growing pains. It had eventually shifted from uncomfortable into normal for the team. They all had their quirks, they'd accepted. Everyone did.

Now, they were again stewing in an uncomfortable atmosphere. One that they hoped they would never have to get used to.

Yang sat on Blake's bed, head bowed, hands quivering, her body still as a stone. All around her were her remaining three teammates. Ruby looked devastated. Weiss, arms crossed, watched Yang with a careful eye, and Blake was holding her head in her hand.

RWB had strict orders from Professor Ozpin. Until the situation with Jaune settled down, Yang was not to leave the dorm under any circumstances. If she did, more severe accommodations would be awaiting her, and she would be watched by those who had no biased opinions. She would only be allowed out of the dorm once a member of the faculty came to get and guide her.

It was unfair, they all knew. The whole story hadn't been told, only the part that had happened in the courtyard.

But Yang wasn't thinking about how fair things where.

The only thing that mattered was that Jaune was messed up who knows how much and it was her hand that had caused him to be this way.

She didn't even know if he was going to live or not.

Even the slightest chance of him dying made her emotions go into complete turmoil. It was like her life depended on him living.

He couldn't die. He mattered too much to her now.

If he didn't make it…

She couldn't imagine it.

It wouldn't happen.

"What are we gonna do?" Ruby's voice sputtered. "What are we gonna do?"

"We wait." Weiss didn't sound any better. "What else can we do?"

"We punish those who caused this." Blake removed her hand from her face, her displeasure apparent. "That's what we do."

"I won't stop you." Yang's voice was weak beyond word. "I deserve it."

"Not you." Blake walked to the door. "Sun caused this. I thought he only told me."

"Blake, wait." Yang called out. "Don't do this."

"And why not?" Blake turned back. "If Sun hadn't posted that picture, none of this would've happened."

"And if we hadn't been so reckless, this wouldn't have happened." Yang argued back. "I should have done something. I could have prevented this."

"Yang, what are you talking about?" Ruby ventured a dangerous question. "How is this your fault?"

"Jaune and I…" Yang gulped, forcing down her fear. "We were supposed to keep this entire thing secret. Nobody was supposed to know about it."

The three girls stared at their usually happy-go-lucky friend as if for the first time. Whoever this girl was, she wasn't Yang. Yang didn't let anything beat her down. She always came back, from everything.

This girl was not her.

"I should've seen this coming." Yang held her shaking hands together. "This was just a bomb waiting to explode. I should've seen it."

"Yang stop that." Ruby placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "You're not a prophet. You're not a time-traveller. You can't predict everything that will happen."

"But I could've prevented something from happening." Yang shrugged off the assuring grip. "It was within my power to stop this, and I didn't."

"Isn't this all rather moot?" Weiss looked out the window at the night sky. "What's done is done, and there's nothing we can do."

"What's important is what we do now." Ruby tapped into her unusual wisdom.

"And try not to let the same mistake get to you again." Blake concluded.

"I don't want a lecture, guys." Yang turned her head. "I want to make things right. I want things to stop being so screwed to hell. I want things to just… FUCK!"

Ruby cringed slightly at Yang's unrestrained word. Weiss's face had softened considerably. Blake, her quest for justice forgotten for the moment, returned back to her teammates.

The three girls standing eyed each other. What could they do?

"I'm just like my mother," Yang bitterly chuckled. "I thought I would never hurt the people that I cared about, and look how well that worked out. I've done exactly that."

"Yang, that's not true." Ruby wouldn't take this anymore. "You don't hurt the people that you care about."

"Oh yeah?" Yang met that challenge. "Tell that to Jaune. Tell that to JNPR. Matter of fact, tell that to his family. They're probably hearing the news right now. If they did, I hope that they hate me."

"You don't mean that." Blake said.

The brawler had no further words to say, opting to stare at the ground instead. It was clear to all of them that there would be no fixing this behavior anytime soon.

"What now?" Weiss looked to her leader. "It's not like we can just wish it all away."

"Miracles don't happen." Blake noted. "No matter how much we wish they did."

"We are not about to give up." Ruby reminded them both. "I know that Jaune would do the same for us."

"Do you really trust him that much, Ruby?" Blake watched her leader carefully.

"Of course I do." Ruby sounded unsure. "He would never throw us under the bus."

Team RWBY was capable of many things. Their skills were all suited for very unique things. Together, they were versatile, capable of tackling virtually any problem.

Yet for all of the things that they could do, solving the problem of broken hearts… well, none of them had any substantial experience in that area.

And it showed greatly.

Lapsing into silence again, Ruby leaned against the window and sighed, Weiss sat on her bed, placing her hands in her lap and Blake titled her hip to one side, arms crossed, and deep in thought.

This was Team RWBY, four girls with some major headaches to deal with.

Blake looked at the otherwise "occupied" members of her team.

Then she was reminded of the one who had caused this again.

She just took her scroll and quietly left.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"I told you not to do it." Neptune paced back and forth. "And now you've got a huntsman's injuries on your hands."

"Don't you think I know that?" Sun exasperated. "I was there, okay? I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." Neptune growled. "I'm not the one with life-threatening injuries. Apologize to Yang. Apologize to Jaune."

"And how do you think I'm going to do that?" Sun looked around the room. "In case you forgot, I can't leave this room. Nobody can leave their rooms."

A knock on their door. They looked at each other. Sun didn't move from his place, so Neptune reluctantly got up and moved to their hastily-reconstructed door. Until a repair crew came along, the two of them had opted for a rough fix.

Carefully turning the doorknob, Neptune opened the door and was caught off guard by an unexpected guest.

"Blake." Neptune recomposed himself. "Need something?"

Even he knew better than to flirt with her if her expression was anything to go by.

"Where's Sun?" Blake immediately cut to the chase. "I need to talk with him?"

"Will this talk involve injuring any part of my body?" Sun questioned out loud. "Because I've already had certain areas threatened."

"You… stupid…" Blake pushed Neptune aside. "What were you thinking?"

"Uh…" Sun tried to come up with an explanation.

"No, scratch that, you weren't thinking as you're attesting to right now." Blake stepped right up into his personal space. "Because of you, my partner's a complete mess and a team leader's in the hospital."

"I can-" Sun would receive no saving grace.

Blake reared her fist back and slammed it into his face full throttle. It was enough to snap his body to the side, as well as leave a bruise courtesy of his aura not being in use.

"I'm beginning to hate you more." Blake had no trace of regret. "You've got no sense of tact, no respect for privacy, no concept of personal business. Do you even know the meaning of thinking?"

"I helped you, didn't I?" Sun defended himself. "That was interfering with your business."

"That was different." Blake remained undeterred. "I'm Yang's partner, and unlike some people, I can keep secrets. The situation called for it."

"So did this!" Sun argued back. "I was just saving the two blondes some trouble."

"Saving them trouble?" Blake repeated the words incredulously. "You took away their right to tell everyone themselves. Did you even stop to think about what the nature of their relationship was?"

"Wait, hold on!" Sun stood up. "So now it's my fault that Yang couldn't keep her anger in? How's that my fault?"

"Oh, don't you go pinning the blame." Blake jabbed a finger into his chest. "You caused this. If it wasn't for you, none of this wouldn't have happened."

"That's not-"

Blake stopped him again by throwing a left hook, now leaving a bruise on his other side. Sun rubbed his face, then glared at her.

"Seriously?" Sun continued to nurse his face. "What's up with the fists?"

"Considering the state Jaune's in, you're getting off scot-free." Blake lowered her hand. "Or do you even care about what happens to a fellow team leader?"

"Blake, okay, I get it ! I screwed up!" Sun yelled back. "Okay?! I get it!"

"No, Sun, you don't get it." Blake hissed back. "If you knew, then you'd be taking responsibility for what you did. Now Yang's on the verge of becoming a criminal when she's not one."

"What?!"

"You heard me."

Unknowingly, Neptune had taken out his scroll and carefully began to record this entire conversation. Something told him that it would be needed later as Sun would no doubt be summoned to be asked about his side of the story.

"Yang's confined to our room until further notice." Blake reported to her fellow Faunus. "If she steps out of line one more time, it's the slammer that's waitin' for her."

"Uh…" Sun tried to come up with words.

"Just shut up." Blake cut him off. "Don't even talk. You've done more than enough. Honestly, I should be doing worse things to you."

"So why aren't you?" Sun dared to question. "What's stopping you."

"Me getting in trouble won't help things." Blake drew a sharp breath before continuing. "But I'm not about to let you get away with this, not by a long shot."

Having said enough words, Blake turned to leave.

"I'm sorry." Sun called out. "I know it doesn't mean much, but I do feel sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." Blake seethed, her back to him. "Apologize to Yang. Apologize to Jaune."

Apologize to the two blondes that he had wronged, the very thing that Neptune had just said to him.

Sun kept his head down even as the door slammed shut, leaving himself and Neptune alone in the room

"Well this sucks." Sun ruffled his hair.

"You don't have to tell me." Neptune replied, his scroll still in-hand. "So… what are you going to do?"

"I don't know!" Sun threw his arms up. "I knew things were bad, but not like this. Yang's a bit hot headed, but she doesn't deserve this!"

The Faunus boy absently watched his tail move about, lost in thought.

"So are you willing to take some responsibility?" Neptune asked. "Because if you don't think Yang deserves this…"

"I…" Sun was caught. "I need more time to think about this."

"Well, you'd better figure it out fast." The blue-haired boy remarked. "It won't be long before Yang is called out."

"And I still gotta apologize." Sun rubbed his gloved hands together. "How am I gonna do that?"

"Well, if what Blake said is true." Neptune pointed out. "Then maybe it's not as hard as you think."

"How so?"

"Well, Jaune seems the type to just let things go easily, and if he and Yang are involved in any way, he's got to be able to get her to see reason."

"That's assuming." Sun voiced his concerns. "Not a good idea considering what I've already done."

"Hey, I'm just putting in my two cents." Neptune offered. "Do whatever you want. I'll just help where I can."

"Thanks, Nep." Sun laid back down on his bed.

"We're best buds." Neptune commented. "We stick together."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Ozpin watched the footage one more time to make sure that he had seen what he needed to see.

He knew that this was shaping up to be quite the interesting year, but this was an unexpected and surprising, even for him.

Yang Xiao Long, the daughter of the well-known Taiyang Xiao Long had done something rather explosive. The grey-haired man knew the girl to be temperamental, but not to this degree, and that prompted him to dig for more details.

From watching the video alone, all he could see was that Sun Wukong, the transfer student from Haven Academy, had done something quite unforgivable in the eyes of the fiery girl. The fact that she was aiming for a particular part of the body spoke volumes about the crime perpetrated.

What intrigued him even more was what happened when Jaune had stopped Yang from delivering what would have been an excruciatingly painful blow, though at the cost of his own body. It was when Yang and Jaune's aura energies collided that Ozpin fixated on most.

He had repeated that section of footage just to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and they were not.

What he had seen in the footage was something that he hadn't seen in a very long time.

Soul melding, an aura technique that was barely known. It would be accurate to say that it was still in its experimental stages, and it had remained so for… Gods knew how long. It was more of a myth than a reality.

Of course, all things, fictional or not, carried some droplets of truth, and Ozpin knew soul melding to be a very true thing.

But just as much as it explained some things, it also left questions. How and when did Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc bond?

Soul melding was an elusive thing, incredibly challenging to obtain. The conditions that needed to be met were easy in theory, but actually meeting the conditions were problematic, and even when established, there was no guarantee that it would remain.

However, once achieved, soul melding granted some awesome strengths, but had its weaknesses. Now that Ozpin had just witnesses one of its weaknesses, he thought it would be best to see how else this newfound power was making his two students' lives interesting.

The headmaster, searching for details, came upon the school blog and pulled up the most popular recent post by Mister Wukong. The photo that he saw immediately gave him an idea of what was going on.

 _This is shaping up to be quite a development._ Ozpin almost felt like cracking an amused smile. _What have you two gone and done?_

This bond between the two blondes was looking to make some curious life changes. Surely their teammates had caught on by now if they hadn't before.

"Professor Ozpin." Glynda arrived via the elevator. "I have come with an update regarding the situation."

"Glynda." Ozpin acknowledge, leaving his screen on. "What is Mister Arc's current condition?"

"For now, he's stable." She reported. "Though that could change at any time. I've been informed that there is no guarantee of stability."

"I see." Ozpin furrowed his brow. "And where is Miss Xiao Long now?"

"Confined to her room and being watched over by her teammates. Miss Xiao Long will not leave unless escorted by a staff member." The woman said. "Considering what she has done, she is lucky to be where she is."

"Though if she continues this, she will not escape due punishment." Ozpin finished her thought. "Even if the incident is a little more than confusing."

"Regardless of her reasons," Glynda continued, "It was reckless of her."

"Perhaps," Ozpin mumbled. "Perhaps not. It may be that she felt her anger justified in this instance."

A moment of silence.

"Do you wish to see her yet?"

"Not yet." He shook his head. "I must first compile every piece of information I can before I do anything else?"

"And have you found anything, sir?" Glynda ventured. "Something to shine some light on an otherwise arcane event."

"No, nothing that makes true sense." Ozpin intoned. "Only a hunch?"

"Which is?" She pressed further.

"Mister Arc and Miss Xiao Long, as of late, have become rather close," Ozpin said, meanwhile pulling up the most glaring piece of evidence. "Mister Wukong chose to reveal something he should not have regarding the two of them."

He simply sat back and watched Glynda as she reacted to the very photo that had become the subject of much talk around the school.

"I… see." Glynda looked like she was making mental notes. "This does complicate things further."

"Be that as it may, it does not change some things." He returned to the main screen. "Taiyang Xiao Long will be informed about this, as will Oliver and Daisy Arc."

"Understood, sir." Glynda said. "Was there anything else?"

"For now, continue on." Ozpin informed her. "I will need to sort some things out before I can make a few decisions."

"If you say so." Glynda sounded unconvinced. "I will return to my duties."

Ozpin chose not to respond to her, instead becoming more absorbed in his investigation. Leaning back into his chair and taking a gulp from his cup, his eyes flitted from his on-screen monitor to his scroll.

If he wanted to know more about this connection, he needed to see just what the two of them had done. Granted, what he expected to find was probably not something suitable for all audiences, but he needed to confirm what he suspected, and the only place that he could think of to find such evidence would be via the security feeds. However, it would have to be recent feeds. Anything past two weeks and there would be nothing.

His scroll in-hand, Ozpin began to dial a number.

"Yes, I need you to send me the security feeds from the oldest to now." Ozpin stated his need. "Yes, as soon as you are able."

A voice replied to him.

"Send it to me as soon as possible."

The called lasted not half a minute.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Patch Island**

 **Xiao Long Residence…**

Taiyang Xiao Long found himself sighing at the silence that greeted him. If Zwei were here, he'd at least have someone to keep him company. Sending him in the mail to Ruby and Yang seemed like a good idea when he'd first thought of it.

"No, it's not about me." That wasn't the first time he'd reminded himself of that fact. "It's their time now. I failed them before. I won't do so again."

He was still board.

Well, it wasn't like he had nothing to do, but there were some things that, no matter how much one repeated the action and got used to it, could not be called entertaining.

Just like every day since Ruby and Yang had left, it was quiet. As unusual as it sounded, he missed the sound of his two daughters being themselves. When they were here, he could count on the place being more lively.

They were both at Beacon Academy, wanting to become huntresses. Ruby, he was worried less about than Yang. Ruby had it in her mind that she wanted to be a hero, and that was perfectly noble goal; he only hoped that she could hold onto that for as long as possible. Yang, though, she wanted to fight Grimm simply for the fight, the thrills, the adrenaline. It wasn't a bad reason, quite understandable, but…

Tai stopped himself before he began to worry again. They were capable of taking care of themselves. He promised the two of them to be the best father he could be, and that started with trusting that they could handle their own lives.

He should send them something. He had promised to stay in contact with them. He had his scroll, sure, but it wasn't the same as getting something via the mail. Written letters were seemingly becoming a commodity in this day and age.

Feeling his parched lips, Tai went to grab a glass of water. Pouring a glass of cold water, he gulped it all down in less than ten seconds, but he was still careful enough not to choke on it. Once he was done with that, he cleaned and rinsed the glass before grabbing his scroll.

He had some work from his students to correct. Recently, he had assigned a small report. It was a chance to not only test the knowledge of each student, but also to see where they were mentally.

All of the students in combat school were training to fight the Creatures of Grimm, and as such, they needed to be prepared physically and mentally. While morals weren't really considered, Tai felt it important to guide young minds in the right direction and save them some pain in the future.

He knew a thing or two about painful life events.

Just then, his scroll chimed, telling him that he had received a new message. Swiping aside the alert, he opened his messages box.

It was from Ozpin.

A message from the Headmaster of Beacon was always important.

Tai had no idea why the old man would reach out to him to begin with. He didn't have any dealings with Ozpin as of late.

So there could only be one thing that he was being messaged about, or rather two things potentially.

That made his heart beat a little faster.

He opened the message.

His eyes flitted from word to word, his grip on the scroll tightening.

Please don't let this be true.

This wasn't true.

It couldn't be.

Any minute now, and Ozpin would make a joke of it. He might put on the face of a man who never cracked jokes, but that old kook had a devious mind. This had to be a joke.

A minute had passed.

He... he was being serious.

The huntsman's silence reigned for only a few seconds more.

"Gods dammit, Yang." Tai raged, slamming a fist into the counter. "Why did you do this?"

He hadn't felt this angry for a long time, not since Yang...

Why was Yang always the source of his anger? He couldn't recall Ruby riling him up.

He had thought that Yang had better control of her anger. Sure, she was hot-headed, and she could be quite vain in regards to her hair, but she wasn't ruthless.

What had caused her to do this?

No, never mind the questions. He would find out once he arrived at Beacon.

No time like the present.

Tai put away her scroll, checked to make sure that he had the essentials, and then quickly made his way to the door.

His eyes paused to gaze upon the old photograph of Team STRQ. His thoughts turned to a certain accident in his time there. Team STRQ was one of the star teams of the academy, and as such, adventure found them as much they found it.

He was reminded of something Raven had once done.

That once-pleasant memory had just become warped into something unpleasant.

Beacon Academy.

He hadn't been to the school in years.

Tai wished he had returned under better circumstances.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Continent of Anima**

 **Arc Residence…**

"Blanche, come on." Daisy called out. "Dinner's almost ready."

"Coming mother." The sound of the youngest Arc's voice coming from her room was muffled due to her door being closed.

"That goes for you too, Joan." Daisy called out to her second-youngest. "Don't make me come in there."

"Okay, okay." The girl sounded annoyed. "I'm coming."

The woman knew Joan wasn't as difficult as her attitude would often make her out to be. It was just that she missed her twin brother. Being away from Jaune all this time had a way of making her… different.

Oliver Arc had insisted that Joan try to go out and make friends and actually be more active, just like Jaune was trying to do, but Joan remained resistant to the idea. She had claimed that Jaune was the only friend she needed.

Maybe the girl was too attached to her brother.

That would have to be addressed.

Daisy made her way through the halls, seeing who else was in their rooms. Most of the time, it was Joan who was sulking. Everyone else, despite Jaune's absence, continued on with life, though as to what sort of reception that the boy would receive once he returned home, well… it was complicated.

She descended the stairs, having found no one else in their rooms. She could hear the sounds of the girls trying to help their father prepare the food, and as the matriarch of the household expected, conversation was abound.

"Is she still sulking?"

Daisy paused on the final step to see that her eldest daughter was at the very bottom, some steps away, an expression of worry painted on her features.

"Unfortunately, she is." The mother sighed to vent her worries. "I knew that girl had a strong attachment to her brother, but this is downright unhealthy."

"I'm beginning to think that twins really do have some sort of bond that others don't have." Scarlet also sighed, mostly from frustration. "I swear, when Jaune gets back, he's got a lot to answer for."

"Yes, he does, but right now, he's probably got more immediate things to be thinking about." Daisy thought of her son, her face dropping. "He's a team leader. That's gotta be a lot for him."

"It probably is." Scarlet agreed. "But if his grades say anything, he's holding on. I was quite surprised myself."

"We all were."

Daisy's expression became sorrowful. It was painful to admit it, but both her and her husband didn't have much faith in their son's ability to become a huntsman. No matter how resolute he was in his quest to be one. They thought he would flunk out and return home. To seem him not only surviving, but actually succeeding…

"Mom, don't do this to yourself." Scarlet moved in closer, gently taking her mother's arm. "You're not the only one who thought poorly of Jaune."

"I suppose not." Daisy mumbled, her voice still laced with guilt. "I just… I just hope that he doesn't hold this against us."

"Jaune loves all of us." Scarlet reminded her mother. "I don't even remember a time that's been outright mad at us."

"This is the first time he's been away from home for an extended period of time." Daisy wasn't so sure of her daughter's reasoning. "Who knows how much he's changed since he left for Beacon."

"Well, I hear he's coming home for break." Scarlet reminded. "And he wants to bring his teammates."

"More than his teammates." The sound of Jin entering the conversation broke the glum mood. "His friends too. Looks like he's gotten a lot of friends. He said they're a team of girls."

"Yes, another surprise of our brothers." The sound of Joan made all heads turn. The girl look unhappy. "Looks like he doesn't need us anymore."

"Now, Joan," Daisy scolded, "You know better than to think that."

"Yeah, c'mon." Jin put her hands on her hips. "Jaune's our brother. He practically relied on us. He's not just gonna forget that."

"Where is everyone?" The sound of Oliver calling to them reached their ears. "I could swear that there were people helping."

"Well, that's our cue." Daisy gestured forward. "BLANCHE, HURRY UP!"

"Arriving soon!" The youngest Arc child whined loudly. "Gods above. Patience, mother!"

"She'll catch up." Jin sounded impatient. "I wanna eat. Let's go!"

The four of them made their way to the dining room. Viola and Mindy were already assembled there, talking to each other before noting that their other sisters and mother had entered.

"Finally got the zombie to leave her room?" Mindy lightly jabbed. "Should I turn her to the light and water her?"

"You know I can hear you." Joan grumbled under her breath. "Jerkface."

"Mindy." Regardless of if it was playful banter or intentionally harmful, Daisy didn't appreciate the words. "That's quite enough."

"Everyone here?" Oliver poked his head through the doorway. "Where's Blanche?"

"Right here, father." Blanche somehow appeared in the room without making a sound. "My stomach hungers for food."

"Always with the fancy words." Her father patted her on the head. "Alright, well, I'll just need some help setting everything out."

"Yeah, like you were all supposed to do." Gwen's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Like ten minutes ago."

"I shall assist." Blanche moved to the kitchen without hesitation. "Fear not, food will be served soon."

"We'd all better get on it." Joan remained in a sour mood, but still accepting that helping was a good idea.

"Geez, don't sound so dead." Mindy jeered with a sigh. "It's only dinner."

"Both of you, get going." Daisy interrupted them. "Do you want to wait longer for food?"

"No, mom," both of her daughters responded simultaneously, though with differing tones.

Without asserting authority, Daisy knew that a lot of things wouldn't get done. She had more than enough experience in playing her part as the matriarch of the house to know that she could count on doing this at least once a day.

She watched as all of her daughters went to help their father. Only after watching them go did she follow them to help herself.

Then she felt her scroll buzz.

 _Now who could that be at this hour?_

She opened the dust-powered device up.

A message from Professor Ozpin. It had to be about Jaune.

She read the very brief message.

She felt her blood run cold. Her entire body went numb. She began to hyperventilate.

"Mom, you okay?"

She was only vaguely aware of Scarlet's voice.

"Mom?" Gwen's voice registered.

"Mother?" Blanche squeaked.

"Daisy." Oliver touched her shoulder.

Her baby boy.

Her only baby boy.

* * *

 **As I post this chapter, chapter 15 will already be in the works. I deeply apologize for the long wait. I only wish I had more time to do everything that I want to do on FanFiction.**

 **The response from last chapter was explosive. I expected it given the contents, but know that everything that I do is not without a reason. I intend to make every major action have repercussions and consequences. That is, if I can make sure that I've got all my details together.**

 **Expect the next few chapters to test some characters, especially in regards to family members getting involved. This is not a problem that's going to be solved instantly.**

 **Question time: what did you guys think of this chapter. Hell yeah? Boring? The usual? Dunno, don't care? You're so bad at this? Oh, this is so fake? No matter your thoughts and opinions on the chapter and the story, I want to know what you think.**

 **A thousand thanks to the greatest audience ever for helping me get to 100K words. Without all of you, there would be no story. You guys made it possible, and it makes me all that much eager to excel.**

 **And finally, for potential future RWBY stories, go check out my profile page for details and vote using the poll. New ideas will be uploaded as I move along.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this installation, and remember:**

 _ **"Let's have some new cliches."**_

 **Samuel Goldwyn**

 **Farewell!**


	15. Ch 15: The Chain

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 15: The Chain

 **Beacon Academy**

 **The Next Day…**

Yang had barely slept the previous night, and the times that she did drift off, she sorely wished that she hadn't. Nightmares had plagued her every sleeping moment.

Dirtied blonde hair. Angry red wounds. A Bloodied body. Closed eyes. No aura. A limp form. No life. No hope.

 _It's all my fault._

The nightmares weren't just vivid and detailed; they felt completely real. It was as if she wasn't dreaming at all, but actually standing there, reliving that horrible moment over and over again, unable to stop it. It was something far worse than nightmares…

It was... like her soul had been stabbed before it was torn out of her being.

 _It's all my fault._

Even though RWB was tasked to watch her and make sure she didn't leave the room except for meals, they all had to go to sleep, exhaustion catching up to them. They had whispered goodnight to each other, but nobody had the energy to crack jokes or draw out the exchange.

They were all about making a fuss about even the smallest of things. That was what they lived to do: make boring things interesting. Right now, though, the atmosphere in the Grimm wilds would be preferable compared to the depression saturating the dorm room.

 _It's all my fault._

Yang had crawled up into her bunk bed last night and laid there for who knew how long, staring at the ceiling, her body and mind numb. Exhaustion gnawed away at her, yet she couldn't fall asleep fully with the nightmares threatening her. She had curled into a tight ball, her arms hugging her legs tightly. She didn't use her blankets, and even if she did, the warmth that the sheets provided wouldn't help the coldness that filled her ravaged heart.

Today was a fitting day in her opinion. The sun wasn't out, only ominous clouds that poured rain filled the sky. Already it was shaping up to be one of those kinds of days. Yang didn't feel upset about any of this, actually, she didn't feel much at all. She just knew she deserved this, and then some.

 _It's all my fault._

She hadn't shed any tears since her confinement began; she had already cried out everything she had, begging to whatever Gods and deities would hear her. Being a potential murderer was bad enough, but almost killing someone she cared for a great deal? That was just too much.

She had made a promise to never hurt those that she cared for. She had seen her father giving up hope when her stepmother had been lost. That pain, she never wanted that to happen to Ruby, or anyone that she cared about. She had failed, in the most horrible way possible. Intentional or not, it was her hand that dealt the blow.

 _It's all my fault._

Yang could hear the rain rapidly trickling down the window. Her head shifted to see just how much rain was coming down, even if her ears already had given her an idea. Wind came blowing through, forcing the rain against the walls, creating a sound that was like hammers against a board, or that's what Yang thought.

She lifted her head slightly. The room, it seemed so grey, so colorless, so lifeless. Black, light grey, dark grey, white, everything but the colors that she loved to see. Such dull surroundings. She hated it, yet couldn't express it.

 _It's all my fault._

How many times had she chanted that same phrase? Hundreds of times? A thousand times? How many times had she said it wouldn't change what had been done and it certainly didn't excuse her in any way.

What would Jaune say if she said those words to him? What would he think when he saw her in such a defeated state? What would he do if he knew just how much this had hurt her as well as himself? Would he care about her and her plight?

 _It's all my fault._

Yang felt her body protesting as she sat up in bed, landed on the ground with soft sigh, then made her way to the bathroom. She closed the door and locked it, her eyes droopy and her mind beaten down.

The first thing she did was put both hands on the sink counter and then lifted her head up to look in the mirror. She grimaced.

 _It's all my fault._

There were bags under her eyes. Her skin appeared unusually pale. Her hair was frizzy and completely out of whack. That last bit didn't evince any sort of reaction from her, she felt empty, indifferent.

After all, what right did she have to look and feel good when someone else was suffering from horrible injuries, that she had caused with her own hands. And that was only counting the physical wounds; who knew what was going on in Jaune's head?

 _It's all my fault._

Yang turned the faucet on, splashing some cold water on her face. It chilled her nerves, causing her to become more aware and less lifeless, though it did nothing to wipe the frown and apathetic look off her face.

What to do? She didn't like how she looked. She needed to get past this; she was better than this moping mess. She was Yang Xiao Long, and there was nothing on Remnant that could stop her, nothing that could slow her down. She should be doing something to remedy this situation, find some way to make things right, or as right as she could make things.

 _It's all my fault._

In her situation, if she even breathed the wrong way, she could very well consider her life as a huntress over, another reason she felt caught between a rock and hard place.

She shook her head. No, she had no right to complain about her path in life. At least she had a life while Jaune could've lost his because of her. No, stop moping. Think of a way out of the problem.

 _It's all my fault._

Yang gritted her teeth, then slammed her fist on the counter, not caring that she left a large crack in the process. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Why her? Why him? Why both of them?

The water continued to stream from the faucet that she had forgotten to turn off, but it was the last thing on her mind right now.

 _It's all my fault._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Later that morning…**

Jaune's condition hadn't changed since last night. He was still unconscious, hooked up to an oxygen mask, attached to IV, and now sporting some new wounds. There was also a chance that he could be saddled with some scars.

The remainder of Team JNPR had been at his bedside the moment that they were able to, and for the past hour, they had remained, never once taking their eyes off him.

Pyrrha held his left hand, her eyes bearing obvious signs of hurt. More than once, she had shed tears, but just as quickly as they came, they left. She didn't want to break down like this. Jaune wouldn't like it if she did. He never did like it when people wept for him, or pitied him, or felt bad for him.

Ren remained at the end of the bed, straight and at-attention. His expression was neutral, but he was hardly at ease with all that had gone on. His adopted brother was here, with so many injuries and he had no way of fixing any of them. He wasn't ready to endure the loss of another person he cared about. He couldn't do this again.

Nora sat on the other side, adjacent to Pyrrha. She kept a hand on Jaune's arm, staring at the unconscious blonde with a longing look. She was sure that if he was awake, the knight would tell her to not worry about him. How could he expect her not to worry about him now? He was like an older brother to her.

None of them had spoken, for no one had anything worth speaking about; the silence was sufficient.

The door opened and Professor Goodwitch entered the room, her expression, for once, not serious, but soft.

"Professor Goodwitch." Pyrrha spoke, letting go of Jaune's hand quickly. "Good morning."

"Miss Nikos, there is no need for formalities here." Glynda voiced, her tone gentle. "I can see that you're all worried."

Nobody responded to those words, because all the evidence needed to see their concern was right out in the open. The huntress decided that now wasn't the time and moved on to what she wanted to say.

"Is there anything new on Jaune's condition?" Nora ventured, her words slightly fragmented. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, there is new information, but I'm afraid that's where we're stuck." The huntress regarded Jaune's still form. "Mister Arc is stable, but he remains unresponsive."

"What does that mean?" Ren tried to dull his demand, though it showed. "Is he going to be okay?"

In any other situation, Glynda would have scolded the young man for being so pushy with her. Right now, however, she didn't even feel any frustration or annoyance.

"His aura is regenerating and his body will eventually heal his wounds." The professor explained as best she could. "The fact that his aura is still functional should tell me that he will be fine. Alas, it is not so."

"Why is that?" Pyrrha asked next. "What's wrong?"

"That remains to be seen." Glynda pushed her glasses up the rim of her nose. "Myself as well as some of the staff have attempted to use our own auras to try and wake Jaune, but his aura immediately rejects us."

"Is there a way to bypass this?" Ren urged, his fists turning white.

"We have tried that as well, Mr. Lie," Glynda relayed to him with a sigh of disappointment. "But that hasn't worked either."

"Then what will work?" Pyrrha was losing her calm, and it was plain to see. "There must be something that can be done."

"We won't stop until we find a solution." Glynda affirmed with conviction. "For now though, I must ask that you all leave."

"But can't we stay longer?" Nora begged, squeezing her team leader's arm. "Please?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to insist." Glynda shook her head in disagreement. "You may see him later today. I will send a message to your scrolls."

"Understood." Pyrrha managed. "Let's go."

The three of them kept shooting glances over their shoulders at Jaune, and even after they left the building, none of them had spoken to each other.

They did have classes today, but they had been excused by Ozpin, and even if they hadn't been excused, they wouldn't have gone anyways. With their team leader out of commission, and his state unknown, school work was the last thing on their minds.

"What now?" Nora questioned meekly.

"I don't know." Ren answered honestly.

"Neither do I." Pyrrha seconded his statement.

The few students that they walked by on their journey to the dorms gladly gave the three of them a wide berth.

Reaching the door to their room, they heard the door across the hall open and Ruby stepped out, looking like she didn't want to be there.

"How is he?" The silver-eyed girl asked nervously.

"Stable, but not awake." Ren conveyed stiffly. "We don't know when he's going to wake up."

"Oh." Ruby looked to the ground, clearly not expecting that answer. "Well, I hope he gets well soon."

Pyrrha's gaze shifted to the blonde brawler, who sat on Blake's bed, a dead look on her face. The redhead stared hard at Yang, and for a moment, Yang remained unresponsive. Seconds later, lilac eyes turned from the floor to the members of Team JNPR. It would be difficult not to miss just how much Yang was beating herself up over this.

Yet seeing this didn't generate any sort of sympathy from Pyrrha.

"So do we." Pyrrha fumed lightly, entering JNPR's room. "So do we."

Nora too stared at Yang, a hard expression the only thing that the bubbly bomber was willing to give. Yang's eyes went to her next, but Pyrrha's suppressed anger was a mercy compared to Nora's unbridled fury, which was only stopped by Ren's grip. Giving a final noise of disgust and lifting a single finger of offense, she went into the room.

Ren was last to enter the dorm room, he too was observing the blonde, and she returned his gaze. He looked unimpressed by this display, simply narrowing his eyes, and shaking his head, as if it was shameful to even look upon her.

The door to their room closed, leaving RWBY to their own devices. Seeing Yang would only make things worse.

Intentionally or not, she had hurt Jaune.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Beacon Tower...**

The elevator doors opened. Ozpin didn't switch off his screen when this happened, merely shifted his eyes to who was coming in.

"Taiyang." Ozpin greeted as best he could. "Good, you're here."

"What happened, Ozpin?" Taiyang ignored the greeting and got right to the point. "What did my daughter do that makes her dangerously close to becoming a criminal?"

"I'll get to the point then." Ozpin stood up and tapped his screen several times, pulling up the footage of the scene. "Watch this."

It was a short video pulled from one of the surveillance cameras in the area. Taiyang crossed his arms and watched very carefully.

"She wouldn't." Taiyang breathed his disbelief. "I never thought she's stoop to that level. Never."

"It's not over." Ozpin interrupted. "There's more."

It took only a few seconds later for Taiyang to see the real problem.

"Gods above." Taiyang tightened his fist as he hissed. "Who did she hit?"

"Jaune Arc." Ozpin spoke immediately. "I'm sure you don't need any more explanation."

"No." Taiyang closed his eyes and breathed out loudly. "I assume that Oliver and Daisy have been informed."

"They'll be here tomorrow morning." Ozpin reported, his tone as even as ever. "All of the Arcs will be here."

"Why are you so nonchalant about this, Oz?" Taiyang wasn't angry, but that didn't' take away from his fretful tone. "My daughter's very freedom is on the line, and she's bound to be chewed alive by Oliver and Daisy."

"Taiyang, I'm in a very precarious position." Ozpin remained firm. "Keeping the news out of the public eye is difficult enough as it is, but just the same, what happened here relates to the laws of Vale. I cannot make exceptions, not even for one of the top students of the first-year. Unless I am given a compelling reason, there is no stopping what I must do."

"... what exactly is going to happen?" Taiyang reluctantly moved on, knowing there wasn't a chance of changing Ozpin's mind.

"I've yet to compile all of the details." Ozpin shut off his screen. "And furthermore, there's something else you should know."

"Which is?"

"Taiyang, what do you remember about soul melding?"

"What does that have to do with-"

"Please answer."

Taiyang bit his lips. "It's when two people join souls when both people are experiencing the same emotional state. Why are you asking?"

"I have reason to believe that Jaune and Yang have both joined in this way." Ozpin stood up and placed his hands behind his back. "Recently if I understand correctly."

"What?" Taiyang looked even more puzzled. "When? How? Why?"

"Not questions I can answer." Ozpin grabbed his cane and walked to the window. "However, I intend to find out. Yang will be summoned to see me and I will ask her to explain."

"What makes you think she'll even tell you something like that?" Taiyang questioned. "Knowing Yang, she's going to be dodgy, especially if the situation is as you say."

"It would be in her best interest to do so." Ozpin intoned, as firm as stone. "She is already treading deadly waters as things are."

This subject was finished with.

"So what exactly do you need me to do?" Taiyang forced himself to relax his tense body. "Or am I here in case… things go south?"

"I would ask that you and the Arcs talk about this." Ozpin proceeded as natural. "I will be overseeing this exchange."

"You're expecting bad blood?" Taiyang blew a breath of air out. "You do realize that we're old friends, right? Me, Oliver, and Daisy, we go way back."

"That may not matter as much now that their son is in a coma and the person behind it is related to you." Ozpin spoke his honest opinion. "Just the same, I will not have things come to blows."

"I… understand." Taiyang managed, resigned to what fate had in store. "I should probably go see Yang."

"Please do." Ozpin didn't deter the man from the suggestion. "I'm sure it would at least give her something to focus on. Ruby informed me that Yang has been… docile."

"Docile and Yang. Not a good combo." Taiyang muttered darkly. "I'll talk to you later Ozpin."

"Do you know where to go?" Ozpin inquired to his former student. "It's been awhile since you've been on Beacon grounds."

"I'll manage, but thanks Oz." Taiyang turned to walk back to the elevator. "Oh, and give my regards to Glynda."

"I'll be sure to do so." Ozpin promised with a single nod. "I'll message you when I need you present."

There was a silent exchange, eye to eye, before the younger huntsman took his leave, Their eyes met again as he got into the elevator, revealing the despondent cast to his face, before the doors closed. By no means did Ozpin like seeing it, but he kept himself composed.

The ride down felt like it took forever, and all Taiyang could think about was how he was going to make his entrance.

If Yang was this down due to what she had done, then clearly her relationship with Oliver and Daisy's son must be deeper than a simple friendship, and Ozpin's words only served to unnerve him more.

Soul melding. That was a fantasy, a legend, yet he had brought it up, claiming it to be integral to everything that had happened and everything that was happening.

How could he accept it though? It was an idyllic thing, something that had no place in the real world. It was like love at first sight: unrealistic, nigh-impossible, and just plain stupid.

In any other situation, he would be suspicious about the nature of this relationship between his daughter and this boy, but when Ozpin was convinced of something, it was judicious to heed him.

In any case, that discussion could be tabled for a later time.

The door to the elevator opened, and to his surprise, there was Glynda Goodwitch looking just as he remembered her.

"Glynda." Taiyang greeted her as warmly as he could. "Good to see you again."

"Taiyang." Glynda smiled at him. "I'm sorry that we couldn't meet under better circumstances."

"So am I." Taiyang scratched the back of his head. "Well, I told Ozpin to say hi to you, but I guess it's not needed now."

"So it would seem." Glynda replied lamely.

An awkward moment.

"Would you, by any chance, have any details about Yang?" It was a spur-of-the-moment question, but Taiyang couldn't stop his mouth. "I haven't been told much."

"Your daughter…" Glynda paused for a moment to form some words. "She's confined to her team's room, being watched by her teammates."

"Is that it?" He wanted and expected more.

"I think it would be better if she told you." She answered.

Taiyang turned to leave. "Thank you."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **A minute after the encounter with JNPR…**

"C'mon, Yang." Ruby pleaded. "Talk to us. We want to help you."

"Go away, Ruby." Yang told her little sister. "I don't wanna talk. I just wanna be alone."

Ruby felt terrible for what had just happened. She thought that by showing some concern for Jaune that it might lessen the valley between her team and JNPR. She expected them to be upset, but not to this extent.

She had no idea they were so bent out of shape, but then again, they weren't exactly in the best of places, even before this whole fiasco went down like it did.

Not even Zwei's attempts to comfort her successful.

"Yang, please, say something." Blake grabbed ahold of Yang's shoulders. "You can't keep doing this forever."

"Actually, I can." Yang groaned miserably. "And I will."

Yang shrugged off the hands on her shoulders and stared at the wall.

"Yang Xiao Long, this is unbecoming behavior!" Weiss stepped next to Blake. "What has gotten into you?"

"Tsk." Yang snickered darkly. "What the hell kind of question is that? You know what happened."

"You know perfectly well what I mean!" Weiss barked with ire. "And watch your language."

"You're not my mom, princess, so shut it!" Yang challenged callously. "What would you know about what I'm going through?"

"All we KNOW is that you flipped out because there was a smooch between you and Jaune." Ruby emphasized pointedly. "Seeing that, I know that you lied to me about you and Jaune not being a thing."

"I'm. NOT. Lying." At the mention of this, Yang seemed to go from sullen to combative. "I didn't lie about what Jaune and I are."

"So what are you then?" Weiss, having lost all sense of tact, chose to be blunt. "What's so bad about this getting out that you almost scarred Sun for life."

"No." Yang faced the window, not her teammates. "I'm not going there. That's it. Period, My lips are sealed. I'm keeping silent. What other way do I have to say it? I won't talk about it, so stop asking."

"Yang, look at the position you're in right now." Ruby came from another angle. "You can't exactly be like this when you talk to Ozpin, and it WILL happen. Not cooperating with us is one thing, but not cooperating with him? You could lose your place here at Beacon."

Yang said nothing, but her face hardened after hearing what Ruby had to say, and that was what the red reaper had hoped would happen. Yang was very passionate about being a huntress for the thrills and the adventure. To take that away from the blonde brawler would be to take Blake's… suggestive literature away from her.

"You can't possibly just sit back and take this." Ruby pressed her advantage. "So stop sulking and fight for yourself."

"Fight for myself." Yang laughed a bitter laugh. "I did that yesterday, and now look where we are."

"Look, we've established this already, Yang." Blake criticized, "You need to give Ozpin something, anything. You'll make things worse for yourself if you don't."

Yang just growled, not having any response to that. She could be still trying to be resistant, or she could be admitting what she had to do in her mind.

A knock made all heads but Yang's turn to the door. Ruby rushed forward to get it. What she saw gave her a shock.

"Dad?!" Ruby squeaked shockingly. "How?"

"Hey, there, little flower." Her father gently embraced her. "Sorry for the unannounced visit. I just got the call yesterday."

"I'm glad you're here." Ruby expressed, moving away only enough to look him in the face. "Oh, you haven't met my team. The one in white is Weiss Schnee, and the one in black is Blake Belladonna."

"It's nice to meet you all." Taiyang nodded to them.

"Likewise," Blake briefly intoned.

"To you as well," Weiss introduced herself with a proper tone and posture. "Mr. Xiao Long."

"Please, you can call my Taiyang." The man waved away the heiress's words. "I feel older already."

"Hey dad," Yang gulped.

Whatever form of positive energy in the room almost completely vanished as the father of two stepped forward, and knelt so that he could his daughter in the eye.

"Yang, I need you to tell me what happened." He spoke with the most disarming tone he could accomplish. "Please, for your sake."

"I can't, dad." Yang sniffled, then stared into her lap. "I just can't."

"Yes you can." Taiyang didn't hold back. "You don't want to."

"I…" Yang hiccuped while holding down her emotions. "I…"

"Perhaps we should go now." Weiss went for the door.

"Yes, that would be a good idea." Blake didn't miss a beat and followed the rapier-wielder.

Now Team RWBY's room only had three.

"Yang, what happened?" Taiyang moved from his kneeling position on the floor to the bed where his eldest daughter sat. "I've never seen you so broken up about, well, anything."

The nearby clock ticked off another minute, and Ruby held her breath, feeling her entire being tense up. There was no danger here, she tried to convince herself. Yang in this state was not a danger in any way.

Ruby failed to convince herself; she had no idea what to expect.

"Yang, we can't help you if you don't let us." Taiyang maintained, persistent. "Your future is at stake. If you don't talk, then I can't guarantee that you'll be a huntress like you want to be."

Again, another hard look, but nothing more expressive.

"Dragon, don't make this another thing that you'll regret." Taiyang placed a hand on her back, beginning to rub. "Talk to us."

Silence stretched out for what seemed like eternity.

"I hurt someone that I cared about." Yang croaked, while still desperately repressing tears. "I hurt him so bad."

"Why?" Taiyang remained even, though he wasn't distant. "Why did you hurt him?"

"Because I was selfish." Yang lamented. "Because I was afraid."

Those were quite possibly the worst words that could come out of Yang Xiao Long's mouth; she was afraid.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Some Twilight Place…**

 _He had been walking this entire realm for… how long had he been wandering? Endless amounts of time that were beyond his measuring. The only thing he did, however pointless, was continue his trek into the eternal darkness and nothingness._

 _He looked all around. There was nothing, as in there was absolutely nothing but darkness. It was so dark that he doubted that he would be able to see something that was right in front of his face._

 _A snap of something behind him halted his pacing. He turned, only to have to shield his eyes. This darkness had left him so used to it, that the sudden light hurt his eyes. He squinted, eyes watering, to see the outline of a fireplace, lit with a strange lilac flame._

 _He cautiously moved towards it, reaching out to feel if there was any heat, and he wasn't surprised when he felt it warming his skin, but it didn't feel as hot as a fire should have been. He frowned at this and began to consider moving on._

 _Then a chill sliced into him, and he hugged himself in an attempt to preserve his body heat. It was in vain as he felt himself plummet further into coldness. Desperation drove him to sit extremely close to the dull fire, moving as close as he felt was safe._

 _He was still cold, but the fire at least would keep him from freezing. The darkness all around him remained unbreakable, and the fire only provided enough light to allow him to see a few feet away, nothing else._

 _Then the fire intensified without warning, blowing up into a flame larger than himself, and he yelped in pain as it burned him, and he forced himself back. The flame changed from dull lilac to ruby red. He fell to the ground, his entire body feeling on fire._

 _He gasped in pain, which felt like it was everywhere. He was not dressed in his armor, just his casual clothes under, so his only "protection" had been singed by the flames. He scrambled to his feet, still in pain, but more worried about the dangerous fire._

 _The fire weakened and became dull lilac again, and he carefully stepped towards it, testing to see if it would flare up again. A minute went by and all seemed okay, so he sat down once again._

 _The flames that touched him had burned, but he was still cold, and that chill surrounding him hadn't receded. If he tried to walk away, he didn't imagine that he would get far before he regretted that decision._

 _The flames seemed to retain the cool lilac color, and all he could was stare into it, and listen to it hiss and crackle._

 _"Okay, this is weird." He leaned his head into his arms. "Even by huntsman standards."_

 _Maybe he was seeing some new reality or maybe he had gone completely bonkers? He might have even died? How would he even know what any of those felt like? How did anyone know these things except from first-hand experience?_

 _How could he even be conscious, yet be unconscious?_

 _What was his last conscious memory of the world of the living._

 _"Don't do this to me." A tremble in her voice. "Don't do this to me."_

 _The flame flared up into a bright yellow and he fell backwards once again. That was Yang's voice, and it sounded pained, so unlike anything he had ever heard coming from the blonde brawler._

 _"Yang." He said in realization._

 _Light surrounded him, and it wasn't from the flame that was in front of him, but from a ring of fire suddenly erupted around him. He stood up and searched for a way out of this place. There was no escape._

 _The flames began to burn their way towards him, but the ring itself didn't seem be getting any smaller. Crap._

 _His heart began to beat frantically. What now?_

 _The flames were closing fast. In a fit of desperation, he rushed the flames, hoping to dash through them and get to the other side. The flames scorched him, but he kept going._

 _He kept going._

 _He kept going._

 _There was no end to the flames._

 _There was no end to the pain._

 _He couldn't keep it in._

 _It hurt so much._

 _He didn't want to cry. He wasn't a coward, and he wasn't weak. He was a huntsman. He was supposed to be strong so that he could defend the weak. He was supposed to brave harm to himself so that other wouldn't have to._

 _The pain was beginning to make him feel numb. He was being attacked by a flame that hurt him, but would not burn his skin. His attempts to call upon aura to help him were of no consequence. It refused to protect him._

 _He collapsed to one knee. His body might not be sustaining injuries, but he couldn't keep this up indefinitely. He was going to die, he felt sure of it now._

 _He didn't want to die, not with so much he wanted and needed to do._

 _His dreams of being a huntsman._

 _His desire to see his family._

 _His want to be with his friends and teammates_

 _… his need for Yang._

 _The flames suddenly ceased to exist, and he fell to the ground, breathing hard, feeling like he'd been tortured. He didn't know what that felt like, but this had to be comparable._

 _His fingers moved, and then his arm. He tried to lift himself up, and found his strength inadequate for the task._

 _Another chilling wind settled around him._

 _No heat was there to help him._

 _He could be forgiven for saying or doing something that made little sense. He was in his own little corner of hell._

 _Even he couldn't make sense of himself._

 _He couldn't get out himself._

 _He needed help._

 _So he cried out a name._

 _"Help me, Yang."_

 _She didn't answer._

 _Nobody answered._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **En Route to Beacon Academy...**

Joan felt something wrong.

Nothing was wrong with her per say, but she felt pain, pain to her other half, pain to someone she could feel even when he wasn't close.

"Jaune." She whispered. "You're hurt."

Her connection with her twin brother was very strong, even for twins. There were things that she could sense from him even if he wasn't near, and he could feel the same things that she could.

Happiness, pain, everything in between. They couldn't lie to each other either, they had tested it.

Joan shook a bit as she felt it again.

"Joan?" Her father, Oliver, put a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"

All the Arcs had decided to go to Beacon Academy, and there was not a shred of doubt in their decision to do so. Jaune was family, and they couldn't abandon him, even if he'd abandoned them, or so they felt.

"Jaune's in pain." Joan shakily conveyed, her hands trembling. "I can't really explain. It's like… pain I've never felt from him."

Both her parents tried their best to comfort their daughter. Out of all of them, Joan was probably the most distraught over the news, and possessing a sturdy bond with Jaune was only making mood all the sourer. They had mixed results when it came to helping Jaune and Joan in the past deal with the issue of being apart. If Jaune felt this sort of loneliness during his time at Beacon, then it was a wonder how he managed to deal with it.

"It's going to be okay." Oliver didn't just say the words for the sake of comfort. "We'll get through this. We'll get Jaune back."

"We'll make sure that everything works out." Daisy embraced her daughter. "Please don't cry, my girl."

Joan let out a bit of a cry, quietly sobbing as she didn't wish to disturb any of the other passengers aboard the plane. Just like Jaune, she was very polite, sometimes overly so, which made her come across as a pushover.

In the row in front of them, Blanche was sound asleep, but she didn't look pleased either. She fidgeted and moved, like she was having a nightmare, and it was understandable given what she knew. Jin sat on her left side while Gwen sat on her right side. They had both done their best to keep her from bawling like a little baby. So far, they had managed to quell said attempts to bawl. Once she woke up though…

"Poor Blanche." Jin patted her hair. "This entire thing is really taking a toll on her."

"It's taken a toll on us all." Gwen sounded disheartened. "Jaune holds a special place in our souls. To see him hurt…"

"Dammit, why'd he have to go and get himself hurt?" Jin leaned back in her seat. "It's not fair. Why him?"

"Are you really surprised?" Gwen shrugged, sounding unaffected. "Jaune's a moron like that, always getting hurt so that others don't."

"Well, he should have more self-respect." Jin rebuffed with displeasure. "Otherwise he's going to get hurt more than physically."

"We've told him this so many times." Gwen murmured. "Maybe this time he'll actually listen to us."

"That is, if… no, when he wakes up." Jin stopped herself from saying those forbidden words. "Jaune's going to be fine."

"Of course he'll be fine." Gwen confirmed. "He's an Arc, and we're a tough bunch to take down."

Behind their parents sat Mindy, Viola, and Scarlet. The first was scheming, the second was trying to mentally prepare herself for the damage to her brother once they got a better picture, and the third was positively enraged.

"I've got it." Mindy seethed under her breath. "I've finally got it."

"What do you have?" Viola's ears picked up her younger sister's words.

"First, I'm gonna slug Jaune." Mindy cracked her knuckles for extra effect. "Then I'm gonna slug the asshole who beat him up. Nobody beats Jaune up but me."

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea." Viola discussed, though even she sounded unsettled. "We would have more to deal with than Jaune's condition."

"You tryin' to convince me or yourself?" Mindy's eyes turned critical.

"Scarlet, back me up here." Viola pleaded to the eldest Arc daughter for help. "We can't go picking more fights."

"No, we can't." Scarlet agreed, but wasn't finished. "But I don't intend to make it easy for whoever did this. The idea of beating up the person responsible sounds… appealing."

"Look, I'm just as upset about this as you guys are, but we're not little kids." Viola interposed with her wisdom. "We're here to make sure Jaune's nursed back to health and hear the situation. We don't even know the full story."

"All I need to hear is a name." Mindy turned away with a huff. "The name of the person's who's gonna wish to die."

"Scarlet, can't you say something?" Viola tried to appeal to her older sister. "Surely, you're not just going to let her do this."

Scarlet pushed some of her red hair away from her eyes, but responded with no words, just cold silence.

"Well, this is great." Viola felt resigned. "Now I've got to babysit you two on top of helping Jaune."

"Mom and dad are feeling just like we are." Mindy crossed her legs and her arms. "They wanna stick it to whoever hurt Jaune."

"But at least they'll be somewhat managing their emotions." Viola knew her parents to be always responsible. "They wouldn't do anything so rash."

"Maybe, maybe not." Scarlet relented on that point. "But this has never happened before, and everyone has a breaking point, even mother and father."

The plane continued to fly towards it destination. The sky outside was clear and the sun was dipping. As the time ticked away, the tension they all felt continued to build. They all became more worried and more afraid of what was to come.

"Gods, look what's happened to us all." Oliver rubbed his eyes. "We're all a complete mess."

"Yeah, we are." Daisy agreed with much sadness. "I'll be glad once this gets settled."

"So will I." Oliver read the message on his scroll again. "Stupid confidentiality rules. Sitting in the dark just makes this so much more agonizing."

Oliver's eyes then cast another look to his wife. He knew that look well, the one that she wore when he spotted it. There was hell to pay. Serious hell, and she was going to collect one way or another.

The Arc's were serious when it came to debts being paid. All debts were paid in full.

* * *

 **Okay, let's not draw our weapons just yet. I've been out of the game for a while in terms of this story, and I'll spare you all the details and excuses. I'm just glad that I finally got around to updating the story. Chapter 16 is about halfway done or so; maybe I can get it out by the end of the month.**

 **This is the final version of the chapter; if you do stumble upon more problems, don't hesitate to tell me in a review.**

 **That being said, what did you guys think? Awesome? Boring? Same old, same old? I do appreciate opinions, even the ones that insult me, because hey, I learn how to take it and keep moving.**

 **I'll be going away on June 8th for two weeks. A family emergency came up rather unexpectedly and I'm going out of country, so I'll have no internet, so apologies if I'm not quick with responses.**

 **Finally, check out my profile page for future RWBY story ideas. Vote if you'd like a say in the next story that I write. The results so far have been surprising.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, and remember:**

 _ **"Happiness depends upon ourselves."**_

 **Aristotle**

 **Peace!**


	16. Ch 16: What Goes Around Comes Around

Beta-Readers: **Operator Blake** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Chapter 16: What Goes Around Comes Around

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Team RWBY's Dorm**

Taiyang and Ruby had both attended to Yang as best they could, though their efforts were questionable considering that Yang was not feeling any better. She remained quiet, dull, and seemingly numb. Taiyang was especially worried; he had gone through this sort of phase, and he knew that coming out for the better wasn't always the way it ended for those who endured this kind of pain. He was just one of the lucky ones.

Now he was watching it happen to his eldest daughter, and he was powerless. He truly had no idea how to help Yang despite having experienced such pain himself. They were different people, his more level-headed nature contrasted her more hot-headed one.

Yang was much like her mother in their aggressive natures.

Ruby's efforts felt hollow, a feeling that was just unacceptable to the budding huntress. It frightened Ruby because Yang had never been one to just ignore her. Not even her best silly faces could break Yang's dour mood. It was extremely disheartening as well as just plain shocking.

That wasn't the only thing they had to worry about either. In addition to her gloomy state, Yang was being evasive. She had answered her father's questions, but she was hardly detailed in her explanations; despite all attempts to bring more information to light, Yang had been stubborn, unwilling to give out more than she already had. It was just another trait that she shared with her biological mother, Taiyang knew, but now wasn't the time to be mentioning Raven, though he had been tempted to use this tactic to get her to talk. When it came to Raven, Yang was a like a fish caught on a hook, and she would be helpless for as long as he could keep reeling her in.

The best thing the father and daughter could do was to tend to Yang's basic needs and ensure that those were taken care of. After that, the blonde brawler had fallen asleep on her bunk bed, tired from her lack of sleep the previous night, and it was only the afternoon. Yang wouldn't usually fall asleep during the day, but she couldn't really be expected to do much given everything happening.

After covering Yang and making sure she was truly asleep, they both took a seat on Weiss's bunk, Ruby giving express permission for her father to do so. Zwei joined them, and they both patted the dog.

"Well, that didn't go as I hoped it would." Taiyang bowed his head in frustration. "I'd hoped that she would be more forthcoming."

"It's more than we had earlier dad." Ruby informed him quietly. "She wouldn't talk to anybody, even me."

"Well, even if she wasn't too communicative, I think I've got an idea of what's happened." Taiyang murmured. "Out of all the people she had to be friends with, it's Jaune Arc. What are the odds?"

"Wait, you know Jaune, dad?" Ruby looked confused and surprised. "How do you know him?"

"His parents and I are old friends." Taiyang's mood lifted slightly as he reminisced. "I met his father at Beacon, and later, we both met his mother at Haven. We've traded parenting tips with each other every so often."

"How come I've never known about this?" Ruby pouted, though keeping the volume down. "How come I've never heard about this until now?"

"I said we're old friends, little flower." Taiyang reminded the girl. "We haven't seen each other in person for years, though we do talk via scroll. Besides, you had more immediate things to be worrying about."

"But still, it would've been nice to know." Ruby crossed her arms in annoyance.

Taiyang just shook his head, indicating his disagreement with Ruby on the subject. That only made the red-clad girl glare. He still didn't cave.

The huntsman fished his scroll out of his pocket and tapped a few times before pulling up a shot of himself along with a tall man that shared Jaune's eye shape and hair style, albeit with green eyes and brown hair. The resemblance was easy to see, but their faces weren't similar. The two men in the picture were posed in a mock-battle stance with both smiling a little too eagerly.

Ruby sighed. "So, do you think they'll hate Yang?" She was afraid to ask that question and with good reason. "Would they forgive easily?"

"Honestly, I don't know, Ruby." Taiyang shrugged, though he didn't want to. "Given that Jaune is their only son, I think we may be in a rough place. The Arcs aren't known to hold grudges, but still…"

"It's their son." Ruby understood his reasoning.

"I always thought someone would hurt one of your two." Taiyang knew where he stood on the matter. "I never expected the opposite."

"None of us did." Ruby leaned her head on his shoulder. "And it's killing me that I can't do a thing about it."

"Don't beat yourself up over this." Taiyang brought her closer, his voice laced with comfort. "It's not your fault. This was just a bad situation that came together all at the wrong time."

"But I'm her sister." Ruby felt a tear on her cheek. "I should've done something. I could've talked to her, tried to learn more about the situation. I could've-"

"It's not your fault." Taiyang stroked her hair. "You had nothing to do with this situation, and you know it."

"But-" Ruby tried again.

"Ruby, you're never going to be able to save everyone." Taiyang's tone demanded her attention, she met his eyes. "You try so hard to save everyone, but sometimes, you can't."

"So what, I s-should j-just sit b-back?" Ruby sobbed, her defiant tone losing its edge. "L-let it happen?"

"No, that's not it." Taiyang brought up a hand to wipe her tears. "You have to save everyone that you can, but you'll never be able to save everyone. That's just a fact of life for huntsmen and huntresses."

Ruby said nothing.

"It hurts even more when the people we love get hurt. Yang's experiencing this right now. She needs time to sort this all out."

Taiyang's scroll began to buzz, and he looked down to see a message.

His jaw hardened.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Professor Ozpin put down his cup. "Oliver. I assume that your family is visiting Jaune right now."

"I'd be there too, but I need to know what happened first." Oliver presented himself as composed, though the old huntsman had a feeling he was anything but. "I want all the details. Leave nothing out."

"I'll get to the point." Ozpin pointed to the chair. "Sit."

The father of eight took his seat and waited for an explanation from his former headmaster and old friend.

"Taiyang's eldest daughter, Yang Xiao Long is the one who injured Jaune." Ozpin folded his arms.

"...what?" Oliver's surprise was light.

"Yang Xiao Long intended to harm another student and Jaune placed himself in harm's way to prevent injury from befalling said student." Ozpin explained further. "I assume that this is commonplace behavior for Jaune?"

"Sadly, it is." Oliver agreed while bowing his head. "Typical Jaune, always looking out for everyone but himself."

"Whether we think he did or didn't need to get in the way is irrelevant, Oliver. What's more important is why he did and how to heal him."

"'How to heal him? What's the problem? Is he that seriously injured?"

"No. Physically speaking, his body is fine. Aside from a few scars, Jaune should make a full recovery." Ozpin's eyes darkened. "But he hasn't awoken or shown any signs of consciousness since he sustained his injuries. Every attempt to revive him has been met with failure."

"Dammit." The father gritted his teeth, then pulled himself together. "Well, what can be done?"

"It's a trial and error process. The best that we can do is continue to search for a method to wake him up.

"...what aren't you telling me, Ozpin?"

"Elaborate." The older man said.

"I've known you for years, Oz, and I've never known you to act without a plan. It's not that I don't believe you, but I think you've got more than you're letting on. Please, can you just tell me?"

"… I see that time hasn't dulled your perceptive skills." Ozpin nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, I have an idea. It has to do with aura melding."

"Aura melding?" Oliver's eyes scrunched up. "You mean that superstitious nonsense about auras combining and acting as a singular person or being?"

"So you remember reading about that?"

"Vaguely." Oliver palmed his forehead. "What does that have to do with this?"

"I'm under the impression that both Yang and Jaune have been joined through this bond." Ozpin laid it out plain. "An aura melding bond if you will."

"But… that would mean…" Oliver tumbled the pieces in his head while recalling old information. "There's only one way for said bond to happen."

"Emotional similarity." Ozpin reminded. "And to top it off, the bond has been strengthened further by… physical intimacy."

"Okay…" The father looked more than a little indecisive. "I'm not sure if I should be scared or impressed for the boy."

"Focus, Oliver." There was a trace of amusement in the older man's voice. "Aura melding is a very rare thing, yet these two have achieved it one way or another."

"And it has to do with his recovery?"

"Quite so. If nothing else works, then I will be forced to consider this as the only other explanation for Jaune's inactivity."

Tick tock went the clock. One man drew a hand through his hair and huffed loudly as he contemplated his emotions and how to approach the problem. The other man peered at his former student, waiting for his next words.

To the Arc head, something just didn't make sense. He'd seen people with life threatening injuries, he'd seen some recover, he'd also seen some die. More importantly, he knew how Ozpin behaved in both situations. The grave cast to Ozpin's features was not what you would see when he was speaking of the former.

"So what else is there?" Oliver was fearful of the question. "What's his prognosis, mentally? Is it brain damage? Is it permanent?

"Right now?" Ozpin closed his eyes as he sighed. "It's not promising."

"I need more than that."

"As I said, Jaune is physically fine, that means his brain too. His condition, however, for some odd reason, seems to be getting worse. Why, we can't say for sure. All that we know is that if he doesn't wake…"

"He will wake."

"… when he wakes." Ozpin knew enough about parents to know what issues not to push. "Though as I've said, it's not looking good at the moment."

"Then onto another topic." Oliver needed to talk about something else. "What about Taiyang and his daughter?"

"If you're wondering what's to happen, she's currently being charged under the laws of Vale. She is charged for assault on account of threatening a transfer student from Haven Academy, Sun Wukong. As for injuring Jaune, she will be charged for assault and battery. Of course, she has not been made aware of said charges yet."

"It sounds like you're doing this out of necessity rather than because you believe it to be right." Oliver commented.

"Watch this," Ozpin said as he turned his monitor on, "And see why I'm so hesitant."

Both huntsmen watched the video, one already knowing the events and the end result while the other looked shocked, then angry, then sympathetic. It was one thing for a bystander to see someone get hurt, but a parent seeing his own son being struck down by a force such as the girl in the video?

"Now do you see my dilemma?" Ozpin didn't shut off the projection. "I hate to waste such talent, but if word of this gets out and I have not taken appropriate action in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Vale, then there will be more severe consequences for Yang Xiao Long and Beacon as a whole."

It made sense, of course it made sense. Ozpin had the big picture to think about, and as cruel as it sounded to single out the girl, it was understandable. The actions of one person should not have to reflect on an institution meant to produce the swords and shields of Mankind.

Still, something seemed off about all of this. Ozpin always played a mean game when it came to everything he actively took part in, so almost definitely he had to have a plan for how to take down two birds with one stone.

"When do we see Taiyang?"

"Shortly."

"How shortly?"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Arc Family…

With the patriarch of the family talking to Ozpin, the rest of the family instantly flocked to see Jaune. As the doctor had informed all of them, there had been no signs of consciousness ever since the "accident" had occurred, and if that had been the only thing, then there would be no need for such an apprehensive atmosphere.

There was one other thing. For reasons unknown, it was reported that as long as Jaune remained comatose, his chances of recovery would worsen and that his condition was not good as of this moment. This bit of information was based on tests done by Glynda Goodwitch, one of Jaune's teachers.

That had been some ten minutes ago, or maybe longer. Time was an abstract concept when the well-being of a loved one was at stake.

Most thoughts of vengeance and justice had been temporarily banished in favor of just being there for an injured family member. They were doing nothing to help, but they couldn't just leave their only brother/son alone in his pain. A few of them hoped in vain that maybe the presence of family might wake Jaune, but no such thing happened. It was a fairytale notion.

Now, everyone was listening as Joan tried to talk to her twin brother. It was like nails on a chalkboard, in your heart.

"I've been so lonely without you, Jaune. The house has been so different ever since you left." Joan held his hand tighter. "You may not think so, but you being at home makes so much of a difference, and that's not just my opinion. Everything thinks so."

Joan sniffed loudly, wiping her face on one of the napkins her mother gave her. She tried to get back under control.

"We've all been b-beating ourselves over doubting y-you." Joan sniffed loudly as she spoke. "W-we didn't think y-you'd have it in you. We just… t-thought you were so h-harmless that you wouldn't b-be able to be a huntsman. I've never s-seen you even hurt a fly before. N-now you can… beat down Grimm."

All heads turned to look at Joan. She didn't want to say that one word that denoted the loss of innocence. Jaune was the most innocent thing in the world, and if all of his sisters had their way, they would probably let maternal instinct kick in and never let him leave their care for the rest of his life. He was just too precious and the thought of him being able to cause harm and… that other thing, it was just… surreal.

"And… a-and you have f-friends." Joan carried on like the world was coming to an end. "More than you h-h-had when you were a-at h-home. I'm jealous o-o-of that. I don't w-want a-a-anyone to take you away from us."

Daisy's eyes snapped up to look at her daughter when those words spilled out. There was something else going on here, something more than a simple brother complex, although that was not a good thing either if this display showed how strong it was.

"I… I…" Joan was losing steam. "I-I-I"

"Come on, Joan." Viola hugged her younger sister to her side. "Jaune wouldn't want you crying over him. You know how he is."

"Boys and their egos." Mindy could only share the sentiment with Viola. "I don't get that sometimes."

On the side opposite Joan there was Blanche, as she slept in what looked like an uncomfortable position: leaning over the bed all the while sitting in a nearby chair. She held tightly to her brother's other free hand, and she hadn't let go since they'd entered the room. The sheets under her head were wet, as was her face. It had not been any better with her. She was the youngest and hardly the most mentally mature.

Scarlet stood over everyone, eying Jaune as if he would be lost if she dared to take her eyes from him. She didn't know the first thing about caring for injuries, something that bothered her to no end. The only thing she could do was pray for his safety and health and guard him with her life. They had yet to receive a name, but once that happened… the eldest intended to have severe words.

Viola had asked if there was anything she could do to assist, and Professor Goodwitch had simply said to call her scroll number if anything happened. So far, there was no change, and based on what the doctor of the family was seeing, his condition was ambiguous. On the surface, nothing was unusual, yet he remained unresponsive for reasons unknown.

Jin and Gwen tried their best to comfort Blanche, tried being the key word. The youngest child of the family was just too saddened by this event, and even as the twins consoled their sister, they too couldn't help but give in to some of Blanche's despair. It was hard to remain optimistic when there was no good news, and with a devastated little sister, their job had become a lot harder. Truly, they hated their lives right then.

Mindy, the self-described cool member of the family, tried to downplay the whole thing. A rare tense look darkened her face. Idiot or not, Jaune was her brother, and the only one she had. Plus, unlike her sisters, he was a guy, and thus was easy to tease. Also, his love for family made it all the easier to make fun of him. If not for his personality, her own would not be so prominent/developed.

The mother composed herself the best out of all of them, but that was not saying much either as she remained silent while staring at her son.

The door to the room opened and everyone turned to see three teenagers that seemed to be Jaune's age. The moment their eyes met, the room felt just a little more intense.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were interrupting." The girl with red hair spoke timidly.

"You are Pyrrha Nikos, right?" Scarlet eyed the redhead in recognition.

"Yes, that's me." The girl bowed her head. "I'm Jaune's partner, and we're all his teammates."

"Unbelievable." Scarlet muttered in light annoyance. "Jaune's partner is a warrior of such talent and he doesn't tell us."

"Well up until we first met, he had no idea who I was." Pyrrha blushed at the memory. "It was… actually nice to be able to meet someone normally."

"Still, he should have told us." Jin couldn't help but complain.

"Jaune was never one to watch the tournaments anyway." Gwen said with a shrug. "No real harm done."

"But surely he recognized you from eating Pumpkin Pete's." Daisy looked Pyrrha up and down. "But that picture doesn't do you justice, dear. You look absolutely stunning."

"T-thank you." The spartan turned positively red.

"In any case, we apologize for the intrusion." Ren interjected with a light clearing of his throat.

"You all have a reason to be here." Daisy motioned them all in. "Don't feel the need to leave on our account."

"Thank you." Pyrrha's face lost some of its tension.

All three stepped into the room carefully.

"I'm Nora Valkyrie." The shorter girl chirped. "I'm Jaune's physical trainer."

"You?" Mindy looked the girl up and down. "You don't look that strong."

"She is the strongest on our team." The black-haired boy said. "I've been with Nora for most of my life, so I would know. I'm Lie Ren, Jaune's aura trainer."

"Do all of you train Jaune in some way?" Viola found herself interested.

"In a way." Pyrrha nodded. "I train Jaune in sword combat."

"It's great that you cover for him." Jin replied in appreciation. "Jaune wasn't trained to begin with, or at least not to huntsman levels."

"We know that all too well." Ren chuckled at thing about Jaune in combat class. "But he's surprised us with how fast he learns."

"Yeah, Vomit boy's been kicking butt as of late." Nora tried her best to brighten the mood. "And he's a good leader. He knows our strengths and weaknesses inside and out."

"Vomit boy." Mindy snickered.

"Well, that's wonderful to hear." Daisy felt a little better knowing that his teammates appeared to have his best interests at heart. "I am Daisy Arc, Jaune's mother."

"A pleasure." Pyrrha nodded somewhat eagerly. "And I take it that these are all of Jaune's sisters?"

"I am Scarlet." The eldest moved to get a closer look at the team. "It's an honor to meet you, Miss Nikos. Your reputation is well-known. Perhaps one day we can fight and test each other in combat."

"You're a huntress?" Ren's interest appeared to be piqued.

"The only official one in the family at any rate." Scarlet elaborated further. "I graduated from Atlas Academy."

"Cool." Nora noted.

"Hello there." Viola introduced herself. "I'm Viola, the doctor of the family."

"So can you cure Jaune-Jaune?" Nora almost demanded.

"Nora, restrain yourself." Ren reprimanded her.

"It's alright." Viola smiled weakly, but shook her head. "Sadly, I don't have an answer. I leave that the more experienced people here."

"The name's Mindy." The sister exchanged a bit flippantly. "Nice to meet ya."

"We're the first twins, Jin and Gwen." Gwen came next. "We're the caretakers of all of our younger siblings."

"Sounds like Jaune was in good hands." Pyrrha noted out loud.

"Jaune might disagree, but without us, he'd be hopeless." Jin stated proudly. "Oh, and this sleeping beauty right here is Blanche."

The three hunters in training regarded each of the siblings of their team leader. They were all so different in appearance and in how they talked. Truly, Jaune had quite the family, and it was slowly becoming less of a mystery why the blonde knight was a little unusual in how he conducted himself as a huntsman and as a person.

"Joan." Daisy called to the girl who hadn't said a thing. "Introduce yourself. Don't be rude."

They all turned to look at the girl who looked like a female version of Jaune. She didn't raise her head or make a face or do anything to indicate that she had heard her mother, and it stayed that way until she just said one word.

"Hello." The blonde-haired twin responded curtly.

"Don't mind her." Mindy casually play off. "She's just stressed out, like that's nothing new to all of us right now."

"Quite." Ren's gaze shifted to Jaune. "Has there been any change in his condition?"

"No." Viola mumbled as she touched her brother's arm. "And if it continues like this… things will get complicated."

"That's our understanding as well." Pyrrha moved closer to lay eyes on Jaune's face. "And it's the worst feeling to know that there's nothing that we can do."

"Say, you're Jaune's teammates." Mindy perked up without warning. "Do you know what happened to Jaune? Who hurt him?"

"Mindy, it's not nice to demand." Daisy threw a look at the girl in question.

"No, it's quite alright. We understand." Pyrrha held her hands up to show that she wasn't offended. "We can tell you what we know if you want to know."

"That would be nice." Viola agreed in anticipation. "We really don't know the full truth of what happened."

"Is Jaune's father here?" Ren gazed around the room.

"Our father is speaking with Professor Ozpin right now." Scarlet jumped in. "I'm sure he knows the full story by now."

The whole family could see many emotions etched onto Jaune's teammates. They must be going through the same thing that they all were; they might have even been witness to the scene of the crime itself. Although they wanted to know, they did question if they wanted to hear all the details.

"Well, I suppose we should start from the beginning." Pyrrha kneeled next to Blanche.

Both Ren and Nora joined their red-clad teammate.

"Please, leave nothing out." Daisy seemed intent on hearing it all despite the possibility of it being unpleasant.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 **Dreamscape…**

 _She was on Beacon Academy grounds. She recognized the large courtyard in an instant, but found it completely deserted. This area was bare and no signs of life could be found._

 _Her blonde hair fluttered in the wind behind her, but because it wasn't getting in her way, she did nothing to stop it. It wasn't her biggest problem._

 _She wanted to know what was going on._

 _The dark of night was upon her. The moon and its shattered pieces were clearly visible. The lights lining the pathways were operational, letting her see clearly. Despite the lighting, She was not completely aware of her surroundings. Human eyesight was still limited._

 _It was a much different dream than she had experienced the previous night. At least she wasn't reliving that horrible moment over and over again. Calling this a relief wouldn't be the right term though. It was more like a minor pain killer._

 _She breathed heavily as she tried to calm her nerves. She was losing her cool and it was happening all over again. She activated Ember Celica and shakily aimed all around her. Something was coming, something evil._

 _From out of a shadowy corner, a Beowolf leaped to slash at her. She barely had enough time to fire her right gauntlet, taking a part of its head, which was enough to throw it off course. The Grimm collapsed to the ground. Before it could get up, she smashed its head with her boot._

 _She took a fragile breath. Her movements were unnatural. Her stance was all wrong. Her head was jumbled. She was fighting like her first year at Signal Academy. She was better than this, much better than this._

 _Two more Beowolves stepped from the shadows. These two were more cautious than their fallen kin. They circled her and she moved her head back and forth to watch for signs of danger. All of her previous musings left her as anunnatural fear gripped her._

 _She reached to her sides for her sword and shield…_

 _Wait, she didn't have a sword and shield…_

 _Her distraction was enough for the two Beowolves to charge her and knock her to the ground. She rolled to get herself out of harm's way, then getting to her feet, she took aim and fired. Her first shot missed. Her second shot missed. Her third shot hit the side of one, but it was not enough to kill._

 _"Aw, come on." She grilled herself. "What the hell is this?"_

 _The Beowolves both charged. She thought of something, and when the Grimm were within reach, she threw up a barrier, which knocked the two dark monsters away. She looked at the protective shield with awe._

 _"Since when could I do that?" She questioned herself, letting it collapse. "It feels so natural to me."_

 _The Beowolves had returned for round two. They seemed to have thrown caution to the wind as they snarled and went for the kill with a direct assault. She moved back, and steadied her arms, angling for headshots. This time, her aim was relatively true, and she managed to kill them._

 _"Make it stop." She collapsed to her knees. "Just make it stop."_

 _She had no such luck._

 _Three pair of eyes appeared from the dark corners of the courtyard. She heard their steps as they approached; heavy sounds with the slightest click of claws._

 _Ursai._

 _"Get out of my face!" She pulled herself to a fighting position._

 _These were more heavy-set Grimm. They didn't possess the speed the Beowolves had, however, they were far stronger. Matching their brute strength against her own was a foregone conclusion._

 _She charged forward, not really sure what she was doing, but she wasn't the type to play defender. She made the first move, which was how she usually preferred it. The closest Ursa, predictably, attacked first, but this time she was ready and responded with a counter. She dodged the obvious overhead strike and then placed her fist under the creature's large head and fired upwards, ripping a hole clean through to the other side._

 _While forcing the now dead Grimm away to prevent it from crushing her, she left herself vulnerable, and thus couldn't quite dodge the attack from next Ursa. She tried to repel the attack with a barrier like she had before, but nothing happened. Sharp claws traced lines of fire across the side of her face, only her quick reflexes kept her head on her shoulders._

 _She'd known it was coming, seen it out of the corner of her eye, yet her aura didn't seem want to respond to her commands. Even more unsettling was the fact that her aura hadn't protected her either. She felt trails of blood trickling down her chin, tasted a bit of it on her lips._

 _She lashed out wildly, firing round after round at her attacker. As a result, her aim was erratic and most of her shots served to only deter the two remaining Grimm from attacking instantly. That however, gave her enough time to put some distance between them._

 _She put a hand to her face and felt the wound. The blood was warm against her palm. She looked down to see it smeared all over her slightly trembling hand._

 _"Enough of this." She made a fist._

 _The trembling stopped._

 _She rose with a resolute expression on her face and reloaded her gauntlets. That brief interlude had given the Ursai enough time to close the gap between them and were now almost upon her, one on either side._

 _They were flanking her, cute. Seems like they too learned from the mistakes of their predecessors. It still wouldn't save them._

 _With a battle cry, she threw herself into the fire of combat, literally. Rather than get into a textbook brawl however, she fired both gauntlets continuously while doing a bit of a spin, creating a circle of flame around herself. It felt strange to be doing a move like this. She usually attacked in a conventional and practiced manner, this was winging it. The Grimm, caught by surprise, couldn't stop in time and were engulfed in a torrent of flames. Their howls of pain faded away as they were reduced to black dust._

 _As she came to a stop and looked around, everything seemed to wobble dangerously. Her arms felt like lead, her breath was coming very raggedly, her body was losing steam, and it seemed that her mind was losing control. how long could she hope to maintain this struggle of hers?_

 _As she tried not to sink to her knees, she heard the slow patter of something dripping. Blood, it couldn't be anything else. It haunted her every dream since the… accident, she doubted this would be the exception. Her first instinct was to check to see if it was hers, it wasn't. It came from the bloodied paws of the Grimm that she had just slain. That blood wasn't hers, not a single drop. She breathed a sigh of relief._

 _She felt her cheek burn. Well… maybe a few drops._

 _She let her eyes meander across the courtyard, looking for more trouble, when she saw something she hadn't noticed before. There was a thin trail of blood leading to the edge of the grounds._

 _The blood was red._

 _Trepidation filled her chest; was someone else here?_

 _One step after the other, she dragged herself to pursue the mystery of the trail of blood. Time seemingly passed with no meaning, though she could swear that this was taking an eternity. All the while, her mind dwelled on her previous thoughts. If this was her punishment for what she had done, then she understood perfectly._

 _She collapsed to her knees, her abdomen twisting in pain. She hadn't received an injury there from her fight; it made no sense that she would be in agonizing pain from an injury that didn't exist._

 _She tried to get up, but she didn't have the will to combat the pain.._

 _Then she heard a cough, it wasn't her own, but it wouldn't matter if she heard the Gods. She wasn't getting up._

 _Then came a fit of coughing._

 _She didn't care._

 _… but what if it was someone she cared about?_

 _However impossible the thought was, now that it was in her mind, she felt spurred to action. She gritted her teeth, got up and ran as fast as she could manage._

 _The trail led her into the Emerald Forest. All sense of safety was left behind as she continued. The thin line eventually turned into a footprint-riddled bloodbath. Pools of the red liquid were now scattered about._

 _Her eyes left the grisly spectacle and rested upon something even worse. Her breath caught._

 _There was the remainder of Team RWBY, all of them lying on the ground, unmoving, bloodied and beaten, their weapons scattered and broken. Surrounding them were Grimm that had yet to dissipate into the wind._

 _Her heart pounded as she checked on Ruby first._

 _"C'mon sis, wake up." She shook the little girl. "It's Yang, your big sister, your awesome sister."_

 _Ruby's eyes remained closed, and she didn't respond. A quick check for a pulse came up negative. There was nothing there._

 _"No, no, no." She tried again, frantically. "Please wake up."_

 _Nothing._

 _"Blake, c'mon it's me." She tried her partner next. "I'm here. I promise that I'll read your books. I won't ever make you do my homework again."_

 _The same result: nothing._

 _"Weiss, c'mon, get your ass up." She pleaded with the fallen heiress. "You're being unproductive like this. You won't make the SDC better by lying down on the job."_

 _Still nothing._

 _"Team RWBY, get up!" She yelled out, her desperation reaching its zenith, rational thought going out the window. "We're unstoppable! We said so ourselves! GET UP!"_

 _No matter how much she wished it, none of them were alive, and it was slowly dawning on her now._

 _"No, this can't be how it ends. This is just a dream!" She stood up, tears mixing with the blood on her face. "It's not how it's supposed to end. We're the good guys! We always-"_

 _Another bout of coughing._

 _She spun around in the direction from which they came from. Someone else was here? Who was here?_

 _Her teammates bodies, her sister's body, was still on her mind, but her desperation to find some form of hope overruled any other thought. She pushed forward._

 _A short distance away, she found another gruesome sight: Team JNPR, all in a similar state as Team RWBY. Pyrrha's armor had been torn to pieces as was her hair. Ren lay flat on his back, StormFlower in-hand, his torso one big mess. Nora was nearby, and she was leaning against a tree, her hand touching a spot where blood was seeping through her outfit. There were no signs of life there either._

 _"No, not them too." She wept at the sight, then realized something. "Where's Jaune?"_

 _Cough._

 _A few meters ahead, he lay on his side. He appeared lifeless too. His shield was split into two pieces by an uneven crack. The tip of the Crocea Mors was separated from the rest of the blade._

 _She clamored to his side, shifting his body and framing his face in her hands._

 _He coughed. This shocked her, but she didn't release his face._

 _"Yang." His eyes opened and he weakly stared at her. "Why'd you abandon us?"_

 _"W-w-what?" She softed her grip on his face. "I-I… b-b-but I-"_

 _"You..." He wheezed and coughed. "You… could have… helped us."_

 _"B-b-but I d-didn't k-know." She replied. "I w-w-was f-fighting for my l-life."_

 _It was a lie. She was alive and hardly fighting to survive. Scratched, but not beaten._

 _"Jaune, please." She brought her face closer to his. "Please… s-stay with me."_

 _"You... left... usss..."_

 _He closed his eyes. He didn't open them again._

 _"Jaune, snap out of it." Yang cried. "You can't do this. D-don't…"_

 _A roar echoed through the forest and she only had the strength to lift her head to take in truly fearsome sight: a herd of Goliaths, and fully-grown ones._

 _She didn't have it in her to fight them back. She simply hugged the lifeless blonde boy against herself. She bowed her head to his and shut her eyes as she let it all out._

 _"I did this." The words echoed in her mind. "I did this."_

 _A shadow loomed over her…_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

She woke. Her eyes shot open and she breathed irregularly.

She was looking at the ceiling.

She sat up, noting the darkness around her. The moonlight shone through their window. She saw Ruby asleep in her bed, Weiss as well, and looking below her, Blake was tucked in and slumbering.

There was no sign of her father.

She reached into her pocket, unconsciously grabbing her scroll, and checking it. There was a message for her from Professor Ozpin.

The true gravity of what she had done came back to her.

* * *

 **Whatever notions you have in your mind about how this will all turn out, I urge you to keep an open mind. As this is my first true romance-focused story, I'm writing more from my own ideas than taking ideas from other places.**

 **As for two months without an update? You don't want to know my reasons and excuses. You just want to read, so it's not worth going into detail.**

 **For those who feel me dragging this conflict, you'd be partially right, but it's all setting up for character interactions and for plot advancement in the future. Stick around next chapter.**

 **For future RWBY stories, check out my profile page and vote.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading, and remember:**

 _ **"Belief creates the actual facts."**_

 **William James**

 **Later day!**


	17. Ch 17: Got 99 Problems

Beta-Reader: **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 17: Got 99 Problems

 **Beacon Academy**

Ozpin was a man who had seen a great deal in his life. He had seen Grimm that could make huntsmen run in fear, he had dealt with humans and Faunus of the vilest mindsets, and he had even survived against the Queen herself. He was not one to boast about his accomplishments because doing the right thing was what mattered most. Others enjoyed the glory and fame; he wouldn't ruin their fun.

Yet despite his many years of experience, the headmaster of Beacon Academy couldn't say that he had ever presided over two sides debating the events surrounding the injuring and ongoing insentience of one his students. This was due in part to the actions of another student, and the cause was apparently a bond, one formed through emotional similarity and reinforced with physical intimacy. If he told this to a normal person on the street, he was sure even he would be labelled as a crazy old man, no matter if he was headmaster of Beacon or not. He was tempted to call all of this lunacy himself.

But it was too late to turn back. Everyone that was relevant to the case was here, along with their supporters.

On his left side, there was Taiyang Xiao Long, his eldest daughter Yang Xiao Long, and his youngest daughter Ruby Rose. The other members of RWBY were seated close to the family as well, though their role was only to support their accused teammate. They were not directly involved nor were they direct witnesses to the incident.

On his right side, Oliver Arc, his wife Daisy Arc, and their seven daughters were assembled, all of them looking more or less unhappy, some better at concealing their displeasure than others. At this point, they knew all there was to know, though he was sure that Team JNPR might have… altered the story.

As for Team JNPR, the remaining members were assembled at the front along with Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. Out of all of them, Sun was probably going to be the most unbiased when relating the events. His carefree and go-lucky attitude lent itself to making him a reliable person to detail what happened. As far as he could tell, the Faunus boy held no ill will towards Yang nor Jaune. That was one of the few silver linings at the moment.

The mood was tense, as was to be expected. Everyone wanted a resolution, yet no one was willing to get the conversation going, so it was up to him.

"I would like to begin by disclosing all the details of the incident so that there is no confusion." Ozpin sat up straight and put his hands in his lap. "Does anyone have any objections to this?"

The old huntsman's eyes wandered first to Taiyang, who shook his head. Then his eyes flickered towards the Arc parents, both of whom gave a simple expression that said they had nothing to object to yet. Finally, he laid eyes upon the students facing him directly, who nodded in agreement to his course of action.

So far so good.

"According to all known sources, Yang Xiao Long's fit of rage was provoked following the viewing of a particular video." Ozpin made his voice loud enough for all to hear. "Am I to assume that all parties have witnessed its contents and digested its meaning?"

In truth, he would prefer not to have to show the video in question. He had sent prior instructions to everyone involved to view all necessary materials before coming to the trial. Nobody seemed eager to watch it again from the expressions shown across the board, and unsurprisingly, Yang seemed the most uncomfortable.

"What video?" One of the Arc daughters asked, young Blanche.

"It's nothing, sweetie." Daisy Arc shushed her daughter. "Please continue, Ozpin."

"Right. Moving on, Yang Xiao Long attempted to exact vengeance upon Sun Wukong, a student from Haven Academy." Ozpin set his eyes upon the student in question. "Mister Wukong, can you elaborate more on what happened?"

"Yes, sir." Sun nodded in agreement. "Yang… came to our team's room, broke down our door, and basically demanded that I be hurt really bad. That happened shortly after I… uploaded the video publicly."

It looked like Sun didn't really want to be pointing the finger at Yang, and Ozpin could understand the sentiment. It was never easy to blame friends or comrades especially in serious times like this one. Additionally, Sun was not one to hold grudges for long. Nevertheless, they all needed to know for certain what occurred that afternoon.

"I tried to escape from Yang and I told Neptune to call for help." Sun continued reluctantly, casting a glance or two at Yang. "I hoped that maybe I could convince her to stop, but she wouldn't listen, and since she was mad, I really wasn't in any position to beat her in a fight, fair or not."

"Does anyone have anything to add or have a question?" Ozpin let a few moments of silence go by. "If not, then please continue, Mister Wukong."

"Uh, right." Sun seemed a bit shaken. "Once she had taken me down, she was going to… she was going to deal serious pain to the groin area."

More than a few faces scrunched up at the thought. Yang bowed her head and attempted to avoid any and all looks, angry or not. Between almost maiming someone and having actually maimed someone, she looked like a villain.

"And what happened after that?" Ozpin tried to move things along.

"That's when I think Jaune got in the way." It was now Sun's turn to look ashamed. "But now that I think about, I wish he hadn't. I kind of deserved what I did. I mean, it wasn't my call to make, prying into private lives. I wish I could take it back now."

"I see." Ozpin crossed his arms. "Is there anything else you wish to add?"

"... nothing else, sir." Sun put his hands together. "No."

"Very well. Next up, Neptune Vasilias." Ozpin addressed the blue-haired teenager. "I believe you have something relevant to the case."

"Yes, professor. I just wanted to add this." Neptune held up his scroll. "This is a conversation between Sun and Blake that I think may shed some light on the reasons as to why Sun posted the video."

The trident-wielder cranked up the volume on his device and played only the audio. Everyone paid attention to what was being said. The conversation was brief, but it did shine some light on the situation.

 _"I helped you, didn't I?"_ That was Sun's voice. _"You wanted info, I got it."_

 _"That was different."_ Now Blake's voice. _"I'm Yang's partner, and unlike some people, I can keep secrets. The situation called for it."_

 _"I was just saving the two blondes some trouble."_

 _"Saving them trouble? You took away their right to tell everyone themselves. Did you even stop to think about what the nature of their relationship was?"_

The rest was just what was common knowledge or had already been spoken of in some capacity. After it was over, the aqua-haired teenager turned off his scroll and carefully stood back. Everyone seemed to be processing.

"Mister Wukong." Ozpin turned to her and addressed her. "Would you care to explain just what these words mean to you?"

"Blake was wondering if there was something going on between Jaune and Yang," Sun said, "As far as we all knew, neither Jaune nor Yang had ever had any meaningful interactions until recently."

"Miss Belladonna, do you agree with this assessment?" Ozpin queried her.

"I do, Professor." Blake agreed softly. "In the past two weeks, Jaune and Yang had started to get closer. All of us noticed, and it just seemed so sudden. Last semester and before two weeks ago, neither of them really spoke with each other."

"I see." Ozpin knew of this, but everyone needed to hear it. "And you wanted to seek answers."

"Yes and no." Blake bit her lips and fidgeted. "Truthfully, before the video went public, Sun showed it to me. I was going around to see if anyone else knew. Then I was going to ask Yang. If that didn't work, I would've asked Jaune. Then… things changed."

The biting tone left the monkey Faunus with a shameful look. Blake left no doubt of how she felt regarding Sun's decision, but still more pressing issues remained, so it was almost forgotten just as quickly as it was brought up.

Ozpin quickly recounted everything that had been said up to this point to ensure the important points were apparent. It was profusely clear how events had created this chain reaction. Blake had requested for help from Sun. Sun overstepped his bounds trying to help Blake. Yang reacted poorly to Sun's actions. Jaune had suffered due to all of the previous facts. It was as simple an explanation as could be made to fit this case.

Now there was one more person to confer with: the perpetrator of the crime.

"Yang Xiao Long, can you please tell us what happened?" Ozpin asked, but everyone knew it wasn't a request.

"..." Yang gulped, but said nothing. "..."

"Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin, this time more forcefully addressed her. "Can you please tell us what happened?"

"..." Yang lifted her head finally. "... nobody was supposed to know. It was just supposed to be a secret between us. We promised each other… we weren't ready to tell anyone… but it doesn't matter now since the rabbit's out of the hat."

"I need more than that Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin eyed Yang critically. "Clarify the relationship between yourself and Jaune."

"We… we're…" Yang could barely be heard. "We're friends with benefits."

"Friends with benefits." Ozpin reiterated so that everyone could hear.

The effect of that statement was powerful, and everyone reacted with different levels of shock. Having this single fact confirmed made things far clearer. The motives behind the brawler's actions, however wrong they might be, could now be explained. Still, it didn't erase some of the hostile looks.

"I wasn't thinking." Yang dared not look at anyone, returning her gaze to the floor. "I was just so mad… I was so upset… our privacy… our freedom to tell everyone at our own pace was ripped away… I just acted. I hated someone taking away my ability to choose, especially like this. I didn't know what to do in that moment…"

"Ozpin, I think the point's been made." Taiyang forced himself into the equation. "Can we move on? There's-"

"There are still a few more things to get out of the way, Taiyang." Ozpin interrupted as he placed his hands on his desk. "Miss Xiao Long, in light of all the evidence presented, do you have anything further to add or do you have any objections to the accusations being brought against you?"

"No, Professor." Yang didn't hesitate to answer. "I take full responsibility for all of Jaune's injuries, physical and mental. I won't deny my actions and I'm ready to accept any punishment that's waiting for me."

"Wait." Ruby spoke for the first time. "Isn't there some way we can sort this all out? I mean-"

"Miss Rose." Ozpin warned her. "Your sister, regardless of her emotional state, has committed a crime. That cannot go unpunished."

"And what is the punishment?" Weiss queried with a frown.

"I understand that all of you are still growing and developing." Ozpin stood up from his chair. "That being said, all huntsmen and huntresses in training are expected to conduct themselves in a way that doesn't threaten their fellow peers. In the case of Miss Xiao Long, I will have no choice but to expel her from Beacon Academy."

"That's not fair!" Ruby objected strongly to the headmaster. "Yang was put in a position that provoked her!"

"She had the choice to ignore the video." Ozpin countered quietly. "She did not, and chose to take actions that she should have known would have severe consequences."

"And those actions wouldn't have happened if not for some of us." Blake rationalized in response. "There would have been no trigger if I hadn't even started all this."

The Faunus girl carried herself with a cool and calm attitude, but it wasn't enough to fool Ozpin. She was trying just a little too hard to be logical-sounding while leaving out all emotions, and he wasn't about to let that derail his decision, as painful and as insensitive as it might seem to any normal person.

"Be that as it may, Yang chose to let her emotions get the better of her. As huntsmen and huntresses, you are all expected to make judgements based on good and bad situations. Failure to do so can be harmful to yourself and others, even fatal. Irresponsibility cannot simply be forgiven and forgotten. There must be a consequence equal to the choice that has been made."

They were harsh words, blunt words, but he had to remind them of their place as the future defenders of the world. It was too often that the young were either unaware or uncaring of their actions having consequences. Whether this was because they gave themselves too much leeway or they didn't want to be scolded or criticized didn't matter. Even if many of the occupants in the tower were huntsmen and huntresses, they were not exempt from the judgement of society. If anything, they were held to a higher standard than most others were, and how huntsmen and huntresses were viewed mattered almost as much as their ability to defend Mankind and the Faunus.

A hoarse cry echoed through the room and its origin was Yang. Having lost all semblance of control, she began to weep uncontrollably. It was a saddening sight for many and an infuriating sight for others. The only consensus was that nothing good was coming of it.

"I-I d-did this." Yang managed those indistinct words. "It's all m-my f-fault."

"Yang please stop." Taiyang attempted to console her.

"I did t-t-this." Yang acted like she didn't hear him. "I-i-it's all my f-f-fault."

"Snap out of it, big sis." Ruby latched onto her sister. "Please-"

"I-I-I-I d-d-did this." Yang continued to chant her words in stuttered fragments. "It's a-a-all m-m-my f-fault."

"Ozpin, that's enough." Taiyang said gruffly. "Can we have a minute?"

"We're not done yet." Scarlet Arc reported seriously. "A decision hasn't been made yet."

"Agreed." Oliver seconded his eldest daughter's words.

A ringing sound come from Ozpin's terminal, suddenly breaking the tension in the room. All eyes turned to see an alert icon with a caller ID on the screen. The headmaster of Beacon could only furrow his brow. He had set it so that no one could call him during the proceedings. The only reason he would be receiving a call was if there was an emergency.

"This is Ozpin." He picked up the call.

"Jaune's condition has suddenly deteriorated." The doctor on the end was simultaneously calm and frantic. "One moment he was fine, the next he-"

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Ozpin replied succinctly. "Ozpin out."

He shut off his terminal before eyeing everyone. "We'll be resuming this once the situation with Jaune is dealt with."

"J-Jaune." Yang seemed to snap out of her rut. "I want to-"

"I'm sorry, Yang, but no." Ozpin shut down the idea. "No matter how you feel on the matter, right now, I cannot further endanger Jaune."

"But-"

"Yang Xiao Long, you will not be permitted to see Jaune." Ozpin put his foot down without mercy. "Do you understand?"

"..." Yang looked desperate now, but was held back by her father and sister.

"Then can we come?" Daisy questioned.

"Right now, the less people in the room, the less distractions there are." Ozpin informed as he grabbed his cane. "With Jaune's condition so volatile, we don't want anyone else adding to the potential dangers. It's a slim possibility, but I'm not about to take any chances. For now, this meeting is adjourned."

It took the better part of fifteen minutes for everyone to exit the tower, and the elevator had to go up and down to accommodate the three groups. They left one after the other, leaving Beacon's headmaster alone to think carefully.

Jaune had been stable until just now when the pressure was being ramped up and Yang lost control of her emotions.

"Jaune's condition." Ozpin spoke out loud. "Is it possible… that Yang is connected?"

When he had proposed that this entire debacle was connected to soul melding, he was only partially sure that this was the case. Soul melding had little scientific evidence to back up what it claimed, yet when all impossibilities were eliminated from the equation, the only thing that remained was soul melding.

Ozpin rose from his seat, gripped his cane tighter, and stepped into the elevator once it came up. While waiting for the descent to end, he used his scroll to pull up one of the texts classified to the students, but not to the faculty.

"Soul melding, classified as two souls binding together in emotional union." He skimmed the text. "Known persons involved, history, said to allow some form of telepathy, other possible effects."

This was not a verifiable source, but it was the only one that gave details.

"Strong emotions from one partner may affect the mood or even physical being of the other."

On the surface, it sounded like a stretch, but even science had some evidence to prove that emotional state did indeed have some bearing on the physical body. Being encouraged to live a happy and fulfilling life wasn't simply just because people wanted to be happy. It was more akin to instinct, just like the instinct to breathe. Therefore, if the pursuit of happiness was instinct, then it wasn't too far off to assume that happiness promoted healthy benefits, so taking all of that into consideration and applying it in this case…

"If Yang's negative emotions can affect Jaune's body in negative ways," Ozpin inferred to himself, "then is it possible that positive emotions could have positive effects, and maybe even revive Jaune?"

It was only a theory at this point, but he couldn't find any real reason to doubt the validity of his own arguments and conclusion. What else did he have to go on besides this? The medical staff had tried every trick in the book with no success, and with this alarming development, the timetable had just been accelerated.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Glynda Goodwitch oversaw Jaune's prognosis and was working without pause to make sure that her student didn't lose his life, because if she stopped now, that may very well be what would happen.

"Heart Rate increasing." The doctor nearby reported uneasily.

"Aura levels?" Glynda demanded.

"Aura levels spiking into dangerously high levels."

"Brain activity?"

"Wild. Sudden highs followed by lows."

This just had long day written all over it. It was only minutes ago that all vitals showed normal readings. Even though the room wasn't personally attended to all the time, they had the leader of JNPR monitored around the clock, and it was the hope that at the very least he would remain unchanged so that he could recover properly, or as close to properly as possible in this situation. Ideally, everyone just wanted him to wake up, but that was looking more and more like a pipe dream.

And why was Ozpin taking so long to get here? It had already been twenty minutes since he'd been informed. The man wasn't slow; he should've been here by now. Sure, he was attending to the business of overseeing Yang Xiao Long's punishment, but the life of one of their students was in the balance. Lives mattered to Ozpin, so it was unusual for him to not be rushing to do something.

"I need to directly observe his aura." Glynda put down her scroll and stood so that she was at the foot of the bed. "Keep an eye on his brainwaves."

It wouldn't be the first time that she had done aura control. It was her job and her duty as a huntress to protect the world from the Grimm, and that included her students, as tiresome and irksome as they could get.

Jaune Arc was not a very good liar as his fake transcripts could ascribe to, but he did have good intentions and he did have the skills to back up his character, though that had taken the better part of an entire year to hone. He was still behind the class in terms of combat prowess, but given his pace of training and learning, he was turning out well all things considered.

The boy didn't deserve what was happening to him right now.

Glynda closed her eyes and focused her aura. She was worried about what would happen. Previous attempts to get Mister Arc to awaken via aura failed. Normally, these techniques were highly successful, but this time, not only was the aura rejected, but it was treated negatively. The knight's own aura was rebuffing their attempts to heal him.

Direct contact seemed impossible, so it was time to try an approach that wouldn't be perceived as intrusive. Glynda began to actively isolate all distractions and used her aura to observe Jaune, but nothing else. It was like putting herself and Jaune alone in a bubble; by using aura to separate the two of them from the physical world, she might be able to find the problem and fix it.

She kept watch over his own aura to see if it would obstruct her, and she was glad when she hadn't encountered any immediate problem. Perhaps the problem was that she had used aura techniques that Jaune had been exposed to. More specifically, he had probably experienced a lot of healing techniques, and with a partner like Pyrrha Nikos, it wasn't a hard thing to believe. This was the one time that Glynda wished that her best student hadn't taught her leader so much. In any event, his aura was simply reacting to what it was familiar with. He might have quite a lot of aura and a great deal of potential, but he was inexperienced by an entire kingdom compared to her. It made her berate herself for not considering this course of action earlier.

 _Then again, when was the last time you've encountered a situation like this one?_ Glynda reflected on her own question. _Never, so a bit of stumbling is understandable, even if I don't like it._

If nothing else, the experience was appreciated just the same, but unless Jaune came out of the experience alive and well, then it would have no meaning, and this was only just a medium to examine, not a solution to recovery.

Glynda wasn't about half-measures and guesses. She required facts and truths and concrete evidence, or so she wished she did.

 _Could Ozpin be searching for a cure himself?_ Glynda's thoughts connected. _It's the only thing that would make sense right now. He knows that there are far too many things riding on the outcome of this entire affair._

Well, no matter what he was doing, she couldn't keep waiting and praying. She just needed to focus here and now. Just a little bit more aura.

Although she remained within the room, she felt like she was on a different plane of existence and though she couldn't connect to Jaune's aura, she still had the ability to at least get a brief feel of what his soul was trying to fight. If his body refused to respond to medical means, then the only thing left was his soul, the nonphysical aspect of any person. This was beyond the physical world and reaching into the abstract world, the kind that philosophy talked about. It wasn't a huntress's job to become particularly philosophical, but aura and the soul would be harder to explain otherwise.

 _Stop there._ Glynda spoke mental commands to herself. _I feel… pain… great pain, and yet… it doesn't feel native. It feels… out of place… out of reach… and familiar._

Whatever she was feeling, it didn't feel like something Jaune would be feeling right now. No, if anything, it would be more logical to associate such feelings and emotions to something Yang Xiao Long would be feeling right now.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"What are you thinking about?" Neptune looked at Sun.

"Uh, nothing that makes sense… yet." Sun was in a thinker pose. "I'll let you know when I've got it down."

"Are you trying to think of some way to help?" Neptune cautioned, feeling a jolt of worry in his gut. "Don't you think it's about time to take a step back and let it work out?"

"Neptune, do you really think I'm gonna be able to just sit here and 'let it work out?'" Sun quoted with his hands as he spoke. "C'mon, you know me better than that. Besides… I've gotta fix this."

"Are you doing this because you want to do this, or are you doing this because Blake said so?"

"This isn't about Blake. This is about me. I made a really stupid mistake, and worst of all, I'm not getting any punishment for causing it."

When Ozpin had dismissed everyone, Sun and Neptune had returned to their dorm room. Thankfully, the door repairs were done by the time they got back, but before either of them entered the room, Sun had given the door a real long look, not one that was filled with guilt or regret, but it was a expression that wasn't his style.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to change your mind?" Neptune ventured, casually tossing his scroll between his hands. "Not that I don't get what you're going through, but this… it sounds like things are abnormal."

"I know that, Nep." Sun threw Neptune an eye of discontent. "But I'm not about to give up now, not when there's still a chance to stop worse things from happening."

"Like I said, this situation is abnormal." Neptune protested in a rational tone. "What the hell are we even supposed to do?"

"Shh, I'm trying to think." Sun raised his hand to indicate his desire for quiet. "I just need…"

Neptune didn't like this one bit at all. Whenever Sun devised some nutty ideas, plans, whatever, it usually had to do with pranking someone, breaking the law, being stubborn, or all three, and yes, all three were simultaneously possible. Him taking something seriously was just the sort of thing that signified better or worse things to come.

"Okay, so we can't do much about Jaune and his injuries." Sun put his thoughts out in the open. "I don't even know aura healing that well let alone all that other meta stuff. Can't help there. So maybe there's something I can do with Yang."

"You wanna do something with Yang?" Neptune put his scroll down. "Are you really sure about that? Wouldn't you being there just be more of a painful reminder."

"Well, yeah, I expect that much, but maybe…" Sun's eyes began to light up. "Maybe there's some way I can get her back in the game."

"Um, how are you going to do that?" Neptune challenged in the friendliest way he could manage. "In case you aren't aware, Yang's under house arrest, or whatever. She's not exactly in a position to be doing anything."

"That's not really what I was thinking. I was thinking more along the lines of getting her out of her funk."

"That's arguably just as hard if not harder. You did see her during the hearing. She might as well be a zombie."

"Exactly my point. I can't help fix Jaune, but I can try to get Yang to snap out of it. If she keeps up like this, she's bound to snap, and if anything bad happened to Jaune… I don't even wanna think about that."

Neptune crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and imagined his best friend's vision. Yang and Jaune were definitely joined at the hip, or something to that effect. That meant anything bad happening to one was going to result in a negative reaction from the other. Two negatives didn't mix well, so sooner or later, one of them had to become a positive, lest this all sour to the point of no return. With Jaune out of commission and Yang being a walking corpse, nothing was getting done, but what could Yang do even if she were in a more determined frame of mind? What would she do?

"C'mon man, just help me think of something." Sun didn't want to hear any more complaints. "If you're not going to help, then just keep it to yourself."

"Okay, fine, I'll humor you." Neptune threw his hands up. "So let's say you snap Yang out of it. What then? What's she gonna do?"

"I don't know, but she has to know something." Sun said the only thing that he could conceive of. "I mean, they did get all… frisky with each other, so maybe they know something that everyone doesn't know."

"That's it?!" Neptune spoke incredulously. "You're basing all of this on a hunch?! Dude, did your brain turn to mush and drain out your ears?!"

"Okay, first, don't call me stupid." Sun pointed a finger accusingly. "There's a reason I'm the leader of Team SNNN and you're not. Second, it makes perfect sense when you think about it this way. Remember Yang during the hearing?"

"Yeah, I remember." Neptune asserted. "She was a damn mess, couldn't even look anyone in the eye. What about it?"

"Jaune's condition suddenly got worse out of the blue, just as the pressure got to Yang and she broke down." Sun hypothesized openly. "That can't just be coincidence."

"There's absolutely no connection." Neptune wasn't getting this at all. "Honestly, it just sounds like gibberish."

"I'm not done yet. Yeesh." Sun lectured with a frown. "I thought you were an intellectual."

The blue-haired boy glared at his leader and partner. "Just make your point."

"Alright fine, here's the thing. I don't know if you know this, but Jaune's condition hasn't improved since he got smashed by Yang. I hear it's gotten worse, and considering that Yang's attitude's gone downhill at the same time, it just made sense to think there's a connection somewhere."

That logic made some sense, but there was nothing to prove that there was a connection. All of this could be just coincidence, and it would be simple to label it that way.

"So I wondered, if Yang got some of her spunk back, then Jaune might get better." Sun concluded with his perceived sound argument. "It's worth a shot, I say. It's a lot better than sitting here feeling guilty."

"You're… not going to let this one go, are you?"

"Nope."

"... do you have any idea what you're going to say to Yang?"

"I think I do. Now to find Yang." Sun got up.

"That quickly?" Neptune also got up. "You sure you don't need to think about it a little more?"

"Nah, I've got this."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Team RWBY had dispersed. Blake decided to let the family have their time while Weiss agreed and followed suit. That left just three in the dorm room, but family or not, there was nothing pleasant about it. Getting away from the hearing had zero effect on Yang. Worse yet, nobody knew how to comfort her, console her, or reassure her.

Things were bad, and things could get worse.

But someone still dared to hope.

"Yang?" Ruby timidly shook her sister. "You there?"

"No." Yang responded robotically. "I don't want to talk."

And that hope was dashed.

"Yang," their father began. "You can't-"

"What can't I do?" Yang seethed. "Sit and sulk, because that's all I can do. Ozpin made that perfectly clear."

"Yang." Ruby tried again.

"Shut up, Ruby." Yang shot back. "Just shut up."

"Yang, that was uncalled for." Taiyang grilled.

"I don't care. You wanna ground me? Go ahead, I don't give a flying f-"

"Yang, stop." Taiyang maintained his calm. "Don't-"

"Or what?" Yang challenged. "You'll make put money in a swear jar? Send me to my room? Go ahead, do it! It's can't get much worse than this!"

"Yang, please stop." Ruby begged. "This isn't like you."

"Knock it off, Ruby." Yang didn't listen. "You don't get to do that. You don't get to sit on the sidelines and preach about being positive when you don't even know what I'm going through. You think that everyone can share your optimism? Well, we can't, so don't go forcing it down my throat."

"But…" Ruby was losing her resolve. "I just want my sister back."

"If you want to help, then leave me alone." Yang covered her face with her hands. "Just leave me to cry in peace."

"Yang…" Ruby was thinking about crying herself.

The heated argument was over and Yang gave into tears and sobbing, and very quietly. The remaining occupants of the room were running on fumes, they were out of ideas.

"Alright, kiddo, you win." Taiyang decided to concede for now. "We'll step out. If you need anything, just send us a text."

Yang just hopped onto her bed, laid down and continued to weep.

"Come on, Ruby." Taiyang ushered. "We should go."

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the red reaper. "...okay."

Before the two of them reached the door, a knock echoed.

"Hmm?" Ruby took the initiative.

Opening the door, she was greeted by the unexpected sight of Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias.

"Sun?" Ruby rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing right. "Neptune? What are you guys doing here?"

"Hey, Ruby." Sun greeted with a weak smile. "Can I… talk to Yang?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Ruby voiced her thoughts. "Yang's… kind of in a mood right now."

"I think I can help get Yang out of this mess." Sun got straight to the point. "But before that happens, she's got to get back her fighting spirit."

"You want to cheer her up?" Ruby didn't want to be skeptical, but she let it into her next words. "No offense to you Sun, but we couldn't do anything."

"Well, we'll never know unless we try." Sun seemed motivated. "Besides, I owe it to everyone to make things right."

"Sun, you're not the one in trouble."

"Maybe not, but I feel responsible. Yang's the only one getting punishment when it's my fault for giving her a reason to be angry. I thought I was doing a good thing by saving her the embarrassment of telling everyone about her and Jaune being… together-together as Nora would put it."

"Do you… even know what to say?" Ruby questioned further.

"Basically." Sun nodded. "I just need to word it right."

"And you think it'll work?"

"I'll make it work."

A moment of silence ensued. A chance to bring back Yang was something that seemed too good to be true. Every single trick in the book hadn't worked on Yang. It was like her personality was never there to begin with, replaced with a husk of a human being. It was distressing.

But a chance was a chance, wasn't it?

"Dad, your opinion?"

"Hey, I'd welcome any help I could get at this point. We've run dry."

"If you feel that strongly, then go ahead." Ruby opened the door wider. "Do you need us to be there?"

"If you want to stick around, that's cool." Sun said. "It might help if you can stay."

"Come in." Ruby held the door wide open. "Find a place to sit if you want."

"I'll take that offer." Neptune chimed in.

"Uh, why are you here, Neptune?" Ruby started. "It looks like Sun's going to be doing the talking."

"Well, I'm gonna record it." Neptune procured his scroll. "If this… when it works, we can show it to Ozpin."

"Why would Ozpin want to see it?" Ruby asked.

"It's complicated technical jargon." Neptune sidestepped the question. "It'll help us."

"...do what you've got to do." Ruby still wasn't sure what all this was about. "Just... bring my sister back."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Yang could hear something going on outside; she heard Sun's voice, but she couldn't make out what he was saying to Ruby or to her father, nor did she care to make any effort to snoop.

 _I did this._ Again, she chanted. _It's all my fault._

There was the sound of shuffling and a few pairs of footsteps could be heard, then the door closed. Then there was a bit more shuffling, then a bit of whispering, then silence. This continued for two or three minutes. It was hard to tell without looking at her scroll, which was on her desk.

"Yang?" Sun called out to her. "It's me. I wanna talk."

She pulled the cover over her body and curled into a ball to try and disappear. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to rest in peace and-

"Yang." Sun persisted. "Come on, I want to talk. Can you please do that?"

"Why?" Yang just wanted this conversation done already. "Are you here to criticize me some more?"

"Some more?" Sun sounded confused. "No, I didn't come here to blame you. Why would you think that?"

"Because I tried to destroy your balls." Yang droned. "Isn't that good enough reason?"

"Well, okay, I wasn't happy when you tried to do that." Sun agreed on that point. "But it's done, you know? I can't hold it over you forever."

"Tell that to Jaune's family." Yang apathetically retorted back. "I might as well have murdered him right then and there."

"Well, I can't exactly speak for Jaune's folks. I don't know what seeing family hurt is like, but I know that I don't hold a grudge."

"How nice for you, Sun. Now go away."

"Aw, don't be like that Yang. I'm trying to help here."

"Go away. I don't want to talk."

"Okay, fine, if you don't want to talk, be my guest. I'll do the talking, and I won't leave here until I've said my piece, so you're just gonna have to deal with it.

"Whatever, dude." Yang mumbled. "Just spit it out and get out."

Sun didn't offer immediate words, but there was nothing to indicate he was going to desist.

Yang wrapped her arms around her legs and pressed them into her chest as she waited for the nonsensical babble that Sun was known for.

"You screwed up big time. That's what you want me to say right?" Sun challenged her, this time with a more assertive tone. "Is that what you want? You screwed up. You happy to hear it now?"

Didn't he just say he wasn't going to play the blame game?

She screwed up. She had told herself that so many times, but to hear it bluntly said was novel. She hadn't been told off like this in forever, not since she broke that old picture of her dad and stepmom. It felt…

"Answer me." Sun commanded her. "Is it fun to hear? You screwed up! Did you hear me? You screwed up!"

There was something inside herself that recoiled at the words. After all this time beating herself into submission, she thought that she had become numb to it.

"Um, Sun, maybe-" Ruby could be heard trying to intervene.

"You. Screwed. Up." Sun almost shouted this time. "It's your fault that Jaune's the way he is. You screwed him the hell up!"

No, she couldn't stand hearing those words being thrown at her. What more did she have to suffer? What more did she need to endure?

"Shut your mouth." Yang whispered almost too softly for anyone to hear.

"You say that you feel bad about him being hurt." Sun pressed further. "But it's more than that isn't it? Is this really about him, or is it all about you? Do you even care about what happens to Jaune? You're just here sulking in your bed feeling sorry for yourself while he's fighting for his life."

No, stop all of this. She didn't want to feel worse.

"Shut up." Yang raised her voice.

"You think that's fair to Jaune?" Sun questioned incredulously. "Do you think he'd want you to do that? He must've seen something in you if he wanted to be with you. Now look at you, a total mess."

"I said shut up." Yang stated more loudly.

"And now when the going gets tough, you're just going to take it lying down? You're just going to give up, let life takes its course? I thought you were a go-getter, but all I'm seeing is the response of a coward."

 _Why won't he shut up?!_ She hated hearing this.

"Shut UP!" Yang shouted. "I said SHUT UP!"

"Only a coward abandons their friends in times of need."

Abandoned.

She leaped from the bed, her feet hitting the floor with a loud thud. Her eyes blazing red, she turned to Sun and met his eyes. Surprisingly, he didn't look away, but he might be afraid. He had to be.

"Say that again." Yang hissed through clenched teeth. "Say that again and it'll be the last thing you say."

"What are you going to do?" Sun met her directness. "Kill me? You already tried to do that once, and look where it got you."

Her right eye twitched slightly and her fists were clenching so tightly that they were starting to turn red. There was nothing more she would like to do than shut him up. It was his fault that these things were happening. It was his fault that she attacked when she did. It was his fault that-

"If you attack me again, that's just one more thing that Jaune's got to be mad about." Sun jabbed at her.

Yang faltered, her body trembling very faintly.

Jaune would be disappointed in her? What did his opinion of her matter? He was just a blonde noodle, a boy toy to her. They even said it themselves. No relationship mushy stuff. That was too much for them. No, she didn't care about his opinion. She didn't care about his opinion. Most definitely not. She…

 _I don't care._ Yang said to herself. _I don't care. I don't… yes… no… I don't know…_

Caring felt like too shallow a word. It didn't match what she was feeling throughout this trial by fire. It felt more like her soul was in someone's hand and being crushed, burned, scraped, and beaten. It was like her very life was at stake. Could that be called mere caring and affection?

Yes, Sun did have his points, yet he was so far off the mark. Yang took a long, deep breath, then released a slow, shuddering sigh. She began to turn back to her bed, then, without warning, sucker-punched Sun in the gut, causing him to stagger backwards and hit the wall, though not hard enough to damage it.

"Sun!" Neptune's reaction was instant. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Sun bit out.

"Easy, Yang." Ruby had used her semblance to dash to Yang, holding her arms back.

If the blonde brawler really wanted to, she could easily break Ruby's grip. Without her scythe, her hand-to-hand combat skills were subpar.

"Don't you dare use Jaune like that." Yang's pointed words were directed at Sun. "Do you think it's easy for me to hear what I did? I did the one thing that I swore never to do: I hurt someone that I care about."

Yang wasn't sure how to word it, but trying to bottle everything up was losing its appeal. She just couldn't do this anymore. Embarrassing or not, personal or not, there appeared to be no more point in trying to conceal what she felt.

"Everyone keeps telling me that I'm responsible for this, and I know that. I keep telling myself that every waking moment, but how long does it need to be?" Yang's red eyes were wet with tears. "I know that I messed up, but can't anyone tell me something else? I'm like going down a dark tunnel with absolutely no light, and I'm not talking about the light for my sake. I'm talking about a light for Jaune's sake."

What she was saying sounded like absolute nonsense, but still she needed to say it to someone, anyone.

"Enough about me being an asshole." Yang wailed in distress. "How many times do I have to hear it?! I wanna know if Jaune's going to live!"

"That sounds an awful lot like someone trying to appease their guilt." Sun asserted.

"Well then that makes two of us." Yang retorted. "If I know anything about you, then you're feeling guilty too."

"Yeah, I am, and I want it to stop." Sun agreed without question. "But unlike you, I'm not going bury my head in the sand and wait for a miracle to happen. I'm gonna actually do something about it."

"Like what?" Yang challenged him. "What could you possibly do?"

"I could make you realize that maybe Jaune's life is in your hands now."

"...what?"

What was the monkey Faunus trying to pull here? Did he honestly expect her to believe in whatever bullshit he was selling? Did he really think that lowly of her intelligence? Yang didn't consider herself to be a genius by any measure, but she could say with absolute certainty that she wasn't a fool.

Ruby had reluctantly retreated, yet still stood nearby. Taiyang looked ready to act in case things began to deteriorate again. Neptune was filming this entire thing for some reason, but that wasn't important right now.

"You heard me." Sun said.

"You do realize you're treading a thin line here, monkey man." Yang replied hotly. "Say the wrong thing and I won't hold back."

"I'm being serious here." Sun reported in perhaps his most serious tone ever heard. "What if I told you that Jaune's life was in your hands?"

"His life in my hands?" Yang repeated his words. "What is this, a sci-fi drama? I don't want to hear a story. I want to hear something concrete."

Sun bowed his head. "Then let me put this another way. Jaune seems to be connected to you in way that affects both of you even when you're not close to each other. If you feel bad, so does he. If you feel good, he does too."

"..." Yang's temper had flared down significantly, but a stern expression remained on her face.

"That emergency during the hearing? Do you really think you can chalk that up to just coincidence?" Sun proceeded to more analysis. "Jaune just gets worse right when we're in the middle of interrogating you? I'm guessing that our little hearing wasn't your cup of tea."

"No shit, dumbass." Yang snorted. "Try taking the combined pressure of multiple people who hate your guts, while you're bashing yourself into depression, all at once."

"Which proves my point. You were far from an ideal state, and then Jaune gets worse. Don't you think there's something going on there?"

A hot breath of air blew out of her nose as she reigned in most of her anger and tried to reconcile Sun's information with what she knew.

Now that she thought about it, she recalled the times they spent together. They did have their bumps in the road. That came with the territory of forming a strong relationship, and that was what made true relationships lasting.

However, one could say that their relationship was a bit abnormal. Their behavior indicated a level of comfort with one another felt usually by people in relationships of many months or years, and they had done it in barely three weeks. It was naive to think that a meaningful bond had formed between the two of them in two weeks. That was what she should have been thinking.

That wasn't what she was thinking. Instead, she thought that there was absolutely nothing wrong with their relationship. They just melding well together. They just did things together naturally. They just played off of each other. They just…

 _Wait, I'm not even having to think about it._ The revelation began to dawn on Yang. _I can just list things off and act like they're normal for us, like we've been doing this for a long time, but we haven't._

"You… may have a point." Yang professed after a moment of thought. "But I still don't understand."

"Okay, here's my theory, and it's not complicated." Sun motioned with his hands. "Your mood is tied with Jaune's condition. We need you feeling better so that he can get better. Easy enough to understand?"

"He'll… be okay?" Yang dared, though she was distressed.

"Isn't that the light that you're seeking?" Sun inquired. "You want him to recover."

"Of course, that's what I want more than anything…"

Dammit, why was this so frightening. Why couldn't she imagine it?

"But you're afraid." Sun came to the ultimate realization. "You're afraid of facing him."

There was nothing she could say to that. What would be the point?

"I wanted us to continue what we were doing." Yang lamented. "I wanted to see what would happen, but now? I can't just go back and pretend that this never happened. This is going to change how we move forward. This is going to change how he views me, even for a guy like Jaune, he won't forgive and forget."

"But you'll never know what comes next if you don't face him." Sun pointed out, his voice returning to normal. "Sure, things will change, but they don't have to change for the worst. If you're worried about Jaune's opinion of you, then prove to him that you were there for him by saving him."

Yang lifted her head up. Her eyes shifted back to their normal lilac color.

* * *

 **I saw reviews quite passionately demanding a chapter, and so I answer the call that I should have answered two months ago. Seriously, I know that I can be better organized than this, but then this happens, but to silence some concerns, it's not for lack of ideas. I've got more than enough of those. It's a matter of putting them down in a way that satisfies my standards.**

 **And speaking of the future of this story, it's time for a new beta-reader. Operator Blake has been very helpful in giving me feedback and tweaking this story, but as of late, he's become indisposed. I figure that he'll come back if he really wants to. In the meantime, I'm looking for a new beta-reader to critique my ideas and content. Trance Sephiroth does my grammar-editing, so potential beta-readers don't need to worry about that.**

 **So I know this question is typical of me, but I need to know: what's your mind telling you?**

 **Finally, after three damn months!**

 **Three months, and you give us this?!**

 **Meh, same old, same old.**

 **Whatever your opinion on this chapter, just leave your opinions. If you're interested in becoming my next beta-reader for ideas and content in the future, leave me something in your review to let me know so that I can reach out to potentials.**

 **Oh yeah, be sure to vote for my next story on my profile page. Story details are there as well.**

 **I hope that you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, and I want to sincerely thank you all for your support. This story has become my absolute number one priority on FanFiction. By that, I mean that this story will see the ending that I know it needs. I've come too far and invested too much to just turn my back on you all.**

 _ **"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."**_

 **Helen Keller**


	18. Ch 18: What Do You Mean?

Beta-Reader: **somenewguy** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 18: What Do You Mean?

 **Beacon Academy**

Ozpin had just recently visited Jaune and Glynda had given him the prognosis. His condition had improved, and he was no longer in immediate danger. It was like someone had flipped a switch that caused his abrupt episode to subside. It was confusing all the same, and at first, it couldn't be explained.

Then Ozpin stepped out of the medical center, coming face-to-face with Yang, Ruby, and their father. He wasn't particularly surprised, but he immediately noticed that Yang was no longer visibly distraught. That, when connected with Jaune's improving condition, couldn't possibly be a coincidence, especially considering what he read recently regarding this "aura bond".

"Miss Xiao Long, did I not make myself clear?" Ozpin narrowed his eyes at his student. "You are not to see Mr. Arc."

"With all due respect professor, I don't care." Yang said firmly, flicking her hair dismissively. "If you have a problem with it, then try and stop me, not that I'll let anything get in my way."

"You're playing a very dangerous game, Yang." Ozpin maintained his stoic manner. "Threatening the life of one of my students is bad enough, but threatening me?"

"We're getting sidetracked." Yang forced the conversation in another direction. "Jaune's life is hanging in the balance, and nothing's working… but I've got a plan."

"Do you?" Ozpin's skepticism seeped into his tone purposefully. "Also, what gave you this sudden motivation?"

"That doesn't matter." Yang ground her teeth as her aura flared to life. "I have a way to save Jaune's life, and you're arguing with me."

Ozpin didn't know how the girl had suddenly regained her fighting spirit, but not only was it dangerous-looking, her aura was positively on fire. That inferno would yield to no person or thing. They were on the cusp of another problem if he didn't handle this situation delicately.

"With the state of affairs being what they are, I'm afraid things aren't going to be easy." Ozpin replied. "I don't need to remind you what happens if you continue to defy me."

"And I've told you before: I stopped caring about the consequences." Yang clenched both fists as she seethed. "Professor Ozpin, I'm trying to be nice, but you're not making this easy for me."

Using a diplomatic approach was fairly novel for the blonde brawler, and the fact that she was restraining herself like this meant that she was watching her steps very carefully as best as she could, but for how long?

Perhaps being stubborn wasn't the wisest course of action, but he wasn't just going to let her in yet.

"You won't care if you lose your status as a student of Beacon Academy?" Ozpin interrogated her. "Wasn't it your desire to seek out adventure and thrills?"

"Yeah, those are still my goals after all of this… but I don't have to be a huntress to do that." Yang only faltered for a split second. "Right now, though, Jaune is all that matters to me. One way or another, I'm going to bring him back."

There would be no deterring Yang from her present course it would seem. Ozpin bowed his head slightly. What he chose to say and do in the next few minutes would either result in a favorable outcome or another regret to add to his rather long list. He wasn't worried for his own well-being, but even if he was, there were more important things to be concerned about.

He had no reason not to believe that Yang would do everything in her power to revive Mister Arc, but for her to have a solution where his medical staff did not…

He had to maintain a healthy dose of uncertainty.

There was no telling if Yang even had an inkling of what was going on. Did she even know the connection she shared with Jaune? Had she given any thought to the possible consequences that could result due to her intervention?

The sudden shifting of metal reverberated through the air around them. It would appear that Yang was indeed willing to take extreme measures if she was denied access. It was a foolish and stupid play from the young girl. She was nowhere near his level, and it would take her so long to even have a chance against him, but a fight wasn't going to occur here, at least not the one that everyone appeared to be expecting.

"You are committed to this… course of action?" Ozpin refrained from calling it stupid. "There will be no turning back."

"I've already got one foot in the grave." Yang stated. "I might as well take the next step into hell."

Well, it wasn't like he needed that much convincing.

"...then go." Ozpin said, stepping to one side. "Do what you feel is right."

The reaction was one he expected. For him to put up resistance only to relent so suddenly was certainly suspicious, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Wait, just like that?" Yang didn't lower her guard one bit. "What's your game, Professor?"

"I am giving you express permission to help Jaune." Ozpin purposefully dodged the question. "Do you want me to retract it?"

"I…" Yang appeared to take back whatever doubts she had. "Which room is he?"

"Intensive care, third floor, room 304." Ozpin informed. "Be advised, you won't be left alone, as it's standard procedure. That is not up for negotiation."

The blonde girl stopped listening and charged into the hospital so quickly that even Ruby was shocked.

"W-wait, Yang!" Ruby tried to catch up.

He glanced at the two sisters as they passed. He might be a very old man, but even he had hope. What else was there to believe in?

"Ozpin, what was that just now?" Taiyang stepped up to his former headmaster. "You'd never let anyone else do that."

"Do what, Taiyang?" Ozpin chose to play ignorant.

"Playing favorites." Taiyang made his point. "You did that enough for Team STRQ. How much special treatment has Team RWBY been getting?"

"Enough." Ozpin said simply.

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Don't think, just do. That was her motto. Thinking too much usually produced terrible results, but in a situation where the means to achieve the goal wasn't clear, what other choice was there? She had to deliberate, using logic and experience, to find a solution. It wasn't something that was part of her "modus operandi," but it was necessary this time around.

That being said… Yang had no idea what she was doing. She wasn't lying when she said she had a plan. She was going to save Jaune. She couldn't explain what she knew without sounding crazy, but how else was she going to make a difference if she couldn't get close to him? She had the sinking feeling that Ozpin had let her in for his own reasons, but better not to look a gift horse in the mouth; she had a life to save.

"Yang, what's the actual plan?" Ruby questioned as they ran. "Not to be a downer, but I didn't hear any details about it."

"That's because I don't have details to tell you." Yang huffed. "And it'd take too long to spell it out. It's better that I just do what I know I need to do."

"You're not making any sense, Yang."

"Were you listening, Ruby?"

"I heard you, but I don't understand! Sis, can't you just tell me what in the world is going on?!"

Yang halted in her tracks and faced Ruby with a hard expression. The younger sister hadn't seen a look like that directed at her for some time, and she was glad she hadn't. It wasn't a pleasant thing to see, and that was only enhanced by the presence of so many negative emotions and feelings painted clearly as sunlight against a bright blue sky.

"Ruby, I'm going to say this once, so listen carefully." Yang intoned directly, putting her hands on the reaper's shoulders. "I can't explain what I'm doing. I just have a gut feeling, and I know that it's the only thing I can do right now. Ask me as many times as you like to explain and I'll give you the same answer, so instead of asking me repeatedly, why don't you just trust me?"

"You can't tell me anything?" Ruby sounded deflated. "Really?"

"If I could, I would." Yang squeezed her shoulders lightly. "So please, just let me do what I need to do."

Yang could count the number of times Ruby had truly tried her patience on one hand, and right now, she was getting really close to adding another time to the count. The brawler hadn't even bothered to put on a nice face. She had to make it clear that no one, not even her little sister, was going to stop her from doing what she needed to do.

No… not what she needed to do… what she wanted to do. To everyone else, she was atoning, and while she was doing that, it was secondary compared to what she really desired most.

"Ruby, I am begging you." Yang pleaded, feeling time wasting away. "Just watch my back. I'll fix this whole thing. You have my word."

"I…" Ruby appeared to want to say something, probably try to help herself, but how could she refuse her sister? "...okay, it's your game. Whatever you say, I'll do it."

With their understanding on the same level now, they both returned to their course. At their speed, finding the right room wasn't difficult. Without so much as a knock, Yang threw the door open so forcefully that it banged loudly against the wall, maybe even denting it.

Jaune was laid up in bed, looking extremely pale, a far cry from his usually fair complexion. He was connected to an oxygen mask as well as an IV tube, but his physical appearance wasn't what made Yang shiver. It was the feeling of incredible pain, and it wasn't of the bodily type.

The only other person inside the room was Miss Goodwitch. She gave the two girls a hard stare. She held a scroll in her hand that appeared to be displaying some information on Jaune's condition.

"Miss Xiao Long, I was expecting you." Miss Goodwitch frowned. "I've also been told that you have a plan to save Mister Arc."

"Yeah, I do, and I'm going to save him." Yang tried to hurry up this conversation. "If you've got something to say, get it out of the way."

"I've got many things to say, but I doubt you'll care." Glynda regarded critically. "Do what you must, but know that I'm watching you. If anything happens that threatens either your life or Jaune's life, I will step in."

"Fine, whatever." Yang absentmindedly agreed. "Now can I do what I came here to do?"

The huntress slowly stepped aside, still giving her student a warning glare. There was only two ways this could go: absolute success or absolute failure. There was no room for a middle ground of any kind.

Yang kneeled by the bed, reaching a hand out at first, then pausing as she felt her emotions return to her. She had caused this to happen, and now here she was trying to piece it all back together somehow. It was horrible and she knew that perfectly well, but now, getting a closer look at her handiwork, it was nothing like the images her mind had concocted. It was so horrible that it made her freeze in place.

 _What the hell am I doing?_ The blonde girl nervously bit her lips. _Where do I even start?_

Shaking her head, Yang gingerly placed a hand on Jaune's forehead, the feeling of his skin burning made her almost recoil, but she held fast. She couldn't appear cowardly in any way right now or else she might be deemed unworthy of continuing, so she kept her hand on him, her skin brushing against his.

Nothing was happening outwardly, yet something was happening internally. Her contact with him had evoked a slight feeling of calm. It was better to be with him than not to be at all. She closed her eyes to inhale sharply, then released swiftly.

She opened her eyes and looked down. She looked around her.

She was confused.

 _Where… am I?_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 _The flames had died down, and now he felt less constricted, less pained. It might not be a good time to look too much into his... less agonizing situation, but he after continuous suffering, he had to have something to explain it all._

 _Those flames, he knew that they weren't his own doing. The flames scorched him as if he was being burned by raw and unfettered negative emotions. He wasn't very philosophical by any measure, but he felt certain that he didn't have these emotions within him, which meant that they were coming from someone._

 _The question was who would they be coming from? Then he answered his own question by remembering the one person that all of this was connected to._

 _"It's Yang." Jaune grimaced in pain while thinking on this. "But what is she angry at… or who is she angry at?"_

 _There were few things that could truly have Yang hold a grudge. Hurting Ruby was a definite way, but the knight couldn't think of any other way. Well… maybe he could think of one other way._

 _"Sun…" Somehow, he got the feeling that Sun was important. "He… made our relationship public." Now he was getting it. "She got angry… I got angry…"_

 _Wait, what was that last bit? He was angry at Sun? No, that couldn't be right because he was the one who flung himself into harm's way to protect the blonde-haired Faunus. It wouldn't make sense to do that and then be angry at him. Then again, there was the fact that he hadn't considered ending up like this so maybe there was his justification._

 _His aura flared lightly, then dulled, then flared again. It was like a signal beacon or a sign of something happening, something unseen to all of his human senses. What he wouldn't give for one of those really cool Faunus senses. Maybe then he could navigate his way to something, anything other than being useless. Yes, it was a petty way to think of the Faunus, but convenience was a wonderful thing._

 _He couldn't help but think that Blake would be angry at him for thinking such a thought. The Faunus girl was always so passionate about the safety and well-being of her own kind. It was a wonderful thing to pursue, but she was a bit too hardcore about that stuff sometimes. He knew that she was still hot on the trail of the White Fang, and not even a good pun would get her out of the mood._

 _Wait, he didn't tell puns… did he?_

 _"No, I hate… puns?" Jaune recalled Yang's numerous puns. "But why would I hate them? I've… made so many…"_

 _His words sounded like absolute nonsense to him. What he had just said sounded like something that Yang would say to herself._

 _Then he felt irrational anger clawing at him. His felt himself growing tense as he held himself at the ready, his weapons appearing before him. Whatever sense he had was being beaten down by the more powerful urge to strike out._

 _His fists felt ready to pummel anything and anyone that got in his way. It was the sort of determination that he hadn't felt before._

 _"I must save him." Jaune felt words tumble from his mouth. "I must save him. Whatever I have to do, I'll do it."_

 _Save him? Save whom? Himself? Someone else?_

 _"Of course save myself." He grilled himself as he tightened his fists. "Do whatever it takes."_

 _As if his environment was responding to his challenge, wisps of black smoke began to form all around him. At first, they were exactly what they looked like, but then they began to form familiar shapes, Grimm shapes._

 _"You want to play?" Jaune felt a rush in his blood. "Bring it on!"_

 _With near-reckless abandon, he launched himself into the heat of battle. Hardened instinct took over and he began to plow through them all like a train._

 _His first slash was enough to decapitate the first Grimm. He then shifted his body so that he could deliver an uppercut with enough force to snap the neck of the second attacker. From there, he thrust his blade to piece the head of the third target. Next came a whirlwind which caused damage to three Grimm within the vicinity of his blade. It was enough time for him to use the hilt of his blade to slam one into the ground before piercing the neck. Before a claw could strike at his back, he raised his shield to defend before pushing back and retaliating with a cut that sliced off half a head. He then charged, only to intentionally slide to the ground and let momentum do the work for him; Crocea Mors sliced a clean slit down the front of the Grimm he passed under._

 _Turning around and reading his stance, he only had a brief window to take a breather before another group surrounded him. This time though, it wasn't a rush of excitement or adrenaline that was motivating him. That feeling had left him, replaced by his own logical and tactical outcome._

 _"Why did I rush like that?" Jaune tried to think about what he'd done. "Sure, I appreciate cool moves as much as the next guy, but not at the cost of tactical viability."_

 _Realizing now wasn't the time to question his lapse in tactical judgement, he let the first Grimm come to him before counterattacking. One sidestep and clear impale through the side of the head._

 _With a dead Grimm at his feet, he took the opportunity to use the body as a platform to enhance his own jump along with his aura. It wasn't nearly as refined as his friends' use of it, but it did what he needed to do. Now that he had open space in front, he decided to take this fight to a more open area where he could see all of his enemies. It might be considered a grave error to expose oneself, but that was merely a matter of perspective._

 _The first sign that he had entered a different area was when he heard his own footsteps make a different sound, like his sneakers had meet stone or pavement. That was his cue to scope out where he had found himself, and to his understandable confusion, it was Beacon Academy's common grounds._

 _The Grimm were still on the hunt._

 _"Shit." Jaune exasperated._

 _His exhaustion was catching up with him and he wouldn't be fighting at full strength as a result. Normally, it would be around this time that a more tactical approach would be appropriate. It was too bad that his nerves were already in overdrive, necessitating the need to just go gung-ho._

 _"Fight the urge." Whatever rationality grated against his mind. "Play a smart game."_

 _"No, remove the threat." He spoke as if talking to another person. "That doesn't require intelligent thought, only action."_

 _He flung his blade almost like a javelin. It made one clean shot through an Ursa. It was a little trick that Pyrrha taught him and she would probably be really proud of how smooth the move was executed. He then swung his shield in a wide arc, catching several appendages as they tried to swipe at him. He rushed to collect his blade, having to do a roll to avoid more attacks at his sides. One managed to graze him, not enough to cause serious damage, but the damage was still felt._

 _Pulling Crocea Mors from the corpse, he adjusted his footing and held his shield in front of him in the event that something came up from behind. His prediction was sound and he struggled for a moment before pushing back at the resistance._

 _The anger within him continued to boil, and the only thing he could do with it was battle some more, battle until there was nothing left in him. Had he retained his own sense of self, he would know that none of what he was doing was adding up. Not that he was one to cower from a fight, but it made no sense for him to discard logic for the sake of a fight. That was something he didn't feel while in combat. He wouldn't deny that there was a thrill to fighting; the feeling of having the power to take down a threat was nice to have, but it wasn't like he was fulfilling an adrenaline quota._

 _Why did the need to fight fill him?_

 _"I just like fighting." Jaune said. "I've always liked to fight. It's why I became a… became a… huntsman."_

 _Distracted as he was, he was unable to do anything against the force against his back which sent him flying a few meters before he roughly face-planted into the ground. Coughing and sputtering, he rolled around onto his back and lifted his head._

 _"Deja vu." He muttered at the looming Grimm._

 _His shield raised up high, he waited for the inevitable counter, only for five seconds to pass, then another five seconds, the some more, and nothing happened. Curious, but still guarded, he lowered his defense._

 _Only a Grimm turning to ashes lay at his feet. It was like it had a heart attack and simply ceased to live._

 _With unsteady feet, he forced strength into himself, his muscles beginning to burn from the exertion. The adrenaline that once coursed through his veins had subsided, leaving his mind to retake control of himself._

 _"What was that?" He looked around himself, as if noticing things for the first time. "Did I… do all of this?"_

 _Then a stab at his head resulted in him gripping his head. He growled in pain and fell on all four, Crocea Mors clattering to the ground. His whole body was on fire once again, but a simple fire would not accurately describe the pain. It was like being exposed to the heat of the sun._

 _"It hurt!" Jaune cried out. "IT HURTS!"_

 _It was like someone was prodding wounds in him, the same wounds that he woke up with when first coming to this place that he still had no idea where it was. Was it Beacon? Was it the Emerald Forest? Was it a place he did not know about?_

 _"I don't need a weakling in my life" He heard a hauntingly familiar voice, her voice. "I don't need a pushover."_

 _"I'm not a pushover." Jaune protested while he teeth ground together._

 _He would never admit it to himself. He couldn't, he wouldn't be a stepping stone. He would be the hero that his family would be proud of, the hero that he himself would be proud of. He had to be strong._

 _"Don't try to act tough, vomit boy." Yang proceeded to taunt him. "You know you're weak. Just admit it already."_

 _"I won't admit I'm weak." He mentally began to fight back. "I can't."_

 _It was a trick of his own imagination. It had to be. Yang wouldn't ever demean him a such a way. She wasn't a cruel person, not like this. If she was truly this way, she wouldn't have bothered with him to begin with._

 _"And why not, weakling?" She demanded furiously. "Weaklings have no business with me."_

 _"... you're not Yang." Jaune's rebuke came with very little thought, only instinct. "You're not her."_

 _His normal logic might as well have never been there to begin with as he proclaimed what he felt to be the truth._

 _"Oh, how convenient for you, isn't it?" Yang's voice began to jab at him. "You see the side you want to see, but you ignore the things you haven't seen."_

 _"Get out of my head!" He couldn't be reasonable while dueling with his pain, thus he chose the only appropriate response. "GET OUT!"_

 _"You can never escape me." Yang said back. "Not then, not now, and not ever!"_

 _Jaune couldn't take it anymore. He screamed and shouted, somehow bypassing any negative affects on himself, grabbing Crocea Mors and hacking and slashing with absolutely no sense of purpose, direction, or goal. This thing was trying to make him go mental. He wouldn't let it have its way._

 _"SHOW YOURSELF!" He screech in an undignified manner. "SHOW YOURSELF!"_

 _The voice did not deign to respond._

 _"AAAAARGH!"_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Ren watched his two female teammates as they all waited for more news regarding Jaune. Without their leader, things were just not normal.

Pyrrha wasn't even trying to pretend to be pleasant. She just stared out the window, her expression having changed many times in the past ten minutes. It didn't take a genius to figure out why this was happening.

Nora lay on her bed, not bouncing around or being restless in any way. Considering that she was typically never still, not even in-place, in her own way, she was being just as expressive as their resident spartan.

Out of all of them, Ren could be considered the most stable, but even he was barely holding on. He was always a person of mind, not of the heart, and for the first time in a long time, his emotions were resurfacing with an astounding amount of energy. Many times today, he had to keep himself from being too open about what he was dealing with internally. Whether or not he wanted to be angry or upset about what was going on was not the point. If he didn't keep his cool, who else would?

In every type of conflict that Team JNPR was put through, Jaune did so well in maintaining a level head, and he managed to do that so often that it was hard to believe that he was still the weakest physical fighter of them all. If anything, he possessed incredible strength in that respect.

 _I know what you would do, Jaune._ Ren said to himself. _You would do your best to resolve this without people turning on each other, and I'll try my best to do that for the sake of our entire team._

Ren felt his scroll buzz in his pocket, and he instantly grabbed it to see if he was getting a call or a message. He was part-happy, part-anxious when he saw a caller icon on his screen. It was Professor Ozpin. This had to be an update.

"Professor Ozpin." Ren said. "Any news?"

 _"Yes and no."_ Ozpin answered.

"Yes and no?" Ren asked.

 _"Let me explain. Jaune's condition has stabilized, but he's still not conscious, so ultimately, there is no change."_ Ozpin continued. _"However, I do believe we have a solution to the problem."_

"You do?" Ren let his excitement seep into his voice. "What is it?"

 _"It's best that we not tell you. The process is delicate and you will not find it agreeable."_ Ozpin sounded cryptic. _"Suffice it to say that this may be the solution that works."_

"I… don't understand." Ren just wasn't sure if he could accept this. "Why can't we know."

 _"If the information were made public, there might very well be attempts to stop the process."_ The headmaster's clarification still was strange. _"I assure you, it is nothing immoral or illegal, but just the same, given the nature of this case, it is not agreeable."_

It sounded like there would be nothing else disclosed. What was the point of even calling if they couldn't even know what was going on? Vague assurances weren't cutting it anymore. What the hell were they even waiting for now?

"Was there anything else?" Ren inquired.

 _"Nothing else. I will contact you if there is more."_

"Understood."

Ren hung up without saying goodbye, his grip on his scroll very tight.

"Ren?" Nora had sat up. "What's going on?"

"Professor Ozpin… might have a solution." Ren summed what he had been told. "But the vibe I got was that something suspicious is going on seeing as he wouldn't tell me the details."

"So how is Jaune doing?" Pyrrha pressured for details.

"Stable, but not conscious." Ren said. "Essentially, no better than before the meeting."

The mood plummeted, and everyone could only stare at some spot on the ground. The clock in their room began to tick very loudly for all of them. Seconds began to feel longer.

Ren raised his head and looked at Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha… are you beating yourself up?" Ren asked.

"What?" Pyrrha shakily questioned.

"I mean, are you upset that you and Jaune didn't see eye to eye and now you won't be able to fix things with him?"

With all the focus on Jaune, it hadn't occurred to him that there were still internal problems that JNPR needed to straighten out. That yelling match between the leader and the spartan was a first, and it was feeling like the last one too.

Pyrrha's green eyes began to water. What would be the point in trying to put on a brave front? They all had been witness to the scene of her breakdown. The response was immediate as the two of them gathered around her to try and at least be there at her side to offer some physical support if nothing else.

"I can't do it." Pyrrha whispered hoarsely. "I just can't."

"You can't do it?" Nora asked timidly. "You can't do what?"

"I messed up." Pyrrha's voice began to fragment. "I messed up so bad. I let my…"

She hiccupped before she got the words out, becoming even more incoherent. She had held much more back than they both realized, and in hindsight, it was as obvious as daylight.

Pyrrha Nikos was a girl of many talents and skills. One of the things that she always did was put on a smile and hide her inner demons and pain from those she cared about because she treasured them, so much so that she even neglected her own well-being in favor of keeping her friends and family close. It was an admirable thing to do, but if this was the result of bottling up all thoseunsaid feelings and emotions?

"Pyrrha… how long were you holding this all in?" Ren questioned, trying not to sound like an interrogator. "

"I…" The spartan warrior couldn't get it out. "I...I-I-I-"

"Shhh." Nora say by her side and patted her atop her head. "Don't talk. Just… let it out."

Under different circumstances, Ren might have marvel more at Nora's actions. Such gestures from the girl were few and far between. He did notice her motions, and figured would be a good thing to do the same. They could ask questions later once she had calmed down.

"I'm sorry." Ren consoled her while sitting on her other side, a hand on her shoulder. "We'll wait."

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 _Yang's outstretched hand felt nothing. There was no feeling of skin against skin. She blinked to confirm her surroundings. They were the same except everyone was gone. She was the only person in the room. Jaune, Ruby, and Glynda were all gone, as if they were never there to begin with._

 _"What on Remnant?" Yang breathed in absolute puzzlement. "Where is everyone?"_

 _The blonde rose up to her full height. A thought popped into her head, so she rushed to the window and pulled the curtains to one side to see if she was right. When she did, she stopped moving._

 _All across the ground, there was black dust lying all around. As a training huntress, she knew on instinct what she was looking at. The only thing that produced black dust when it died were the Grimm, but there was an unusually large amount just scattered on the ground. The entire courtyard was littered with scattered jet-black dust._

 _"Wait… it's just like…" Yang's breathing hitched. "Nightmares. The nightmares."_

 _She took a step back from the window. She tried to make fists, but when she tried, she felt her hands go slack. Her hands didn't have the strength to form solid fists, only the appearance of them with no true strength behind them._

 _"I… I need to… I need to…" Yang tried to form a response. "What should I… what do I… do?"_

 _Her ears then picked up something. It sounded like… two objects clashing against each other, but the source was too far away for her to know with any certainty what was going on. Her first thought was to head out the door, but then she thought about what she was doing. If this was a dream, then whatever she did in this place wouldn't really have consequences in the real world. She stopped at the door frame, clenched her jaw, then charged at the window, using her aura to protect her as she launched herself with Ember Celica._

 _She passed through it with ease and felt gravity begin to take over. Instinctual training maneuvers took over and she landed on the ground, her boots making definite contact with the ground, a loud "Thump" reverberating throughout the grounds. It left an echo that was no doubt heard._

 _"Dust." Yang looked at the ground as she whispered to herself. "Grimm dust. So much of it."_

 _A light blanket covered the vivid grounds of the academy, and now that she looked up at the sky, it was red, like the color of blood._

 _"Blood." Yang could almost taste it on her tongue. "Blood."_

 _From the ashes on the ground, a Beowulf rose up abruptly and pinned her to the ground. It moved its jaws to her head, and she grabbed on and kept those razor-sharp teeth from damaging her aura or her own head. The Grimm was persistent and still tried to snap its jaws shut._

 _With a rising panic that funneled adrenaline into her systems, she forcefully dislocated its jaw before punching it through the head. It began to dissipate into nothingness and she skittered backwards on her hands and feet. Her senses were on high alert now. She now had to suspend any and all notions of realism within this realm. If Grimm could be created from the black dust they left behind in death, then she couldn't call this place the world she knew of. She couldn't believe in anything she saw._

 _"What… was that?" Yang asked herself._

 _She lifted her hand and noticed that some dust was now sticking to her palm, and she rose up in another fit of panic, wiping away any traces of the substance from herself. Her arms, her legs, anywhere that had touched the dirtied ground. Grimm growing on her could not be a good thing in any way. This only brought her panic level up higher, much more so than she had felt in years._

 _"Okay, maybe nobody killed these Grimm." Yang tried to reason out what had happened the past few minutes. "Maybe… the dust is just here to make Grimm."_

 _That made more sense in her head than it did out loud. Taken out of context, she sounded ludicrous. Grimm weren't born out of dust. That just wasn't possible, and she had seen if that was the case when she was little. Nothing happened with Grimm dust. It was just dust._

 _"Why am I getting sidetracked?" Yang slapped herself in the face. "I was… searching for Jaune… searching for someone…"_

 _The screech of a Nevermore made her head snap towards what she remembered to be the north in the real world. With the choices being to either steep herself in more negative emotions or try to actually do something; the decision wasn't a hard one to make. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She felt couldn't run fast enough, so she used aura to run faster. It was a wasted effort, but she beyond carrying about such details._

 _"Find Jaune. Find someone." That's what she now chanted. "Find out what the hell's going on."_

 _Familiar sights popped up as she carved a path straight towards the sounds she was hearing. Her eyes were focused only on what was in front of her, and that's why she was too slow to stop the incoming attack._

 _At full speed, her momentum did all the work for the Ursa and she hit its paw hard and fell flat on her back, a groan escaping her mouth as she took the full impact. Her aura took damage._

 _"What the fuck?!" Yang felt so dumb and enraged. "Get. Out. Of. MY. WAY!"_

 _Springing back onto her feet, she fired Ember Celica and flew like a bullet towards the Ursa. It was a major, but she didn't notice or care. It was just another roadblock in the way. With a cry, her fists looked like they were catching fire as she connected with her target._

 _"Die!" She screamed._

 _It wasn't enough to kill it, but she didn't stop. Once the Ursa Major was downed, the blonde brawler positioned herself to slam her fists into its head repeatedly._

 _One punch._

 _Two punches._

 _Three._

 _Four._

 _"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"_

 _A red-black pulp was that was left by the time she had finished. The effort spent cleaning herself of any Grimm substance was wasted once more; her frenzied bash had left her entire front covered as well as her face. A bitter taste entered her mouth, but this sensation was offset by her heightened combative mood._

 _A low growl behind her._

 _Ember Celica armed, she fired one round after another. The large Beowolf tried to shield itself by holding up its arms to its face. When Yang ran out of rounds in the chambers, she took the chance to attack while it was still obstructing its own view. The move proved to be straightforward as she smashed it into the ground. Quickly reloading her right gauntlet, she pried its jaw open before firing once, twice, and three times until there was a hold clean through to the other side._

 _A unique roar came closer to her. She dropped to the ground to narrowly avoid two giant hands trying to catch her. It was a Beringel, one that stood twice her own height._

 _"C'mon, you overgrown monkey." Yang held her fists up. "Come and get me if you can."_

 _With a challenge issued, the two met with fists. The force behind the kinetic energy was enough for a shockwave to emaciate. The blonde girl felt like her strength was not at 100%, thus she felt herself falter at the force ever-so slightly. As a result of her unidentified weakness, she adjusted to get on the defensive, and for a time, it worked out well._

 _A shift of the body here, an adjustment of legwork and arm positioning there, all of it was coming back to her, exactly as Pyrrha had taught her._

 _...Pyrrha's teachings? She hadn't ever taken a lesson from Pyrrha. They had only met in training, and there was hardly anything to be taught. They were both skilled warriors._

 _Once again, Yang's thoughts interrupted her flow of concentration, and she was downed by an overhead fist. She couldn't bring the proper strength to bear in time and now she was on her back with an angry Grimm looking down at her._

 _"No, no no." Yang cursed, her mind taking her back to her first brush with death. "Not here, not now."_

 _Ruby was so little back then, barely able to walk for more than a few minutes, and there she was, lying in a wagon being pulled by a sister two years her elder, with no concept of what to do to save them both. Her obsession with her mother had led her to that point. A child though she might have been, it was her fault._

 _It was also because of her that Jaune was lying in the twilight zone between life and death. It was because of her fears that she had reacted in a manner that was undoubtedly disgusting and contemptible._

 _"You did this to me." His voice, she could hear it. "It's all your fault."_

 _"I-I-I w-was t-trying to p-protect us." Yang mumbled out._

 _"You were protecting yourself." Jaune didn't hesitate to insult her. "You say that you're strong, but what you really are is a coward. The only reason you're fighting it to validate yourself."_

 _"Th-that's not true!" She claimed frantically. "I-I did it f-for you! F-for us!"_

 _"Not for me then. For us." He repeated calmly. "So everything has to include you. Everything."_

 _"...Jaune would never say such things to me." Yang was desperate for hope. "I don't know who you are, but you aren't him."_

 _"You don't know a damn thing about me!" Jaune's shout silenced her. "Don't you dare come into my life and pretend that you care about me. The only thing you care about is youself!"_

 _"STOP IT!" Yang wailed with all she had. "STOP IT!"_

 _Her aura flared and she felt all of her survival instincts kick in._

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

"Mother, will Jaune be okay?" Little Rouge innocently asked. "When will we get to see him again?"

"Soon, sweetie." The mother of eight planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "We'll see him soon."

"I want to play tag with him." She smiled a sad toothy grin. "He always did love to spend time with us. I hope we still can."

"It's so frustrating." Scarlet grumbled loudly. "We're his family, and we can't do shi-"

"Language." Their father warned.

"Really?" The eldest daughter of the Arc family glared. "That's your biggest concern?"

"That's enough." Daisy wouldn't have any of this. "Both of you back off, or I'll make you stop."

Silence once again reigned supreme.

"Stupid. All of this is stupid." Mindy kicked the wall again. "It's like trying to make conversation with a wall."

"And there's been no word from Professor Ozpin." Viola stated. "Either he knows nothing or he's hiding something. I would say the latter is more likely."

"Are you suggesting that Ozpin is intentionally keeping secrets?" Jin narrowed her eyes at this prospect.

"I'm saying that there may be things we don't know." Viola rebutted with a serious look. "Things that Ozpin does know that he cannot or will not share."

"Viola, what on Remnant?" Gwen gave her older sister an incredulous look. "Are you just trying to make up an excuse to see him?"

"He's our brother." Viola was forceful. "What more reason do I need to see him?"

"But Professor Ozpin's the only one who knows what's going on." Gwen couldn't look anymore shocked. "Are you suggesting that you know something that the headmaster of Beacon Academy doesn't know?"

"Like I said, this whole thing is stupid." Mindy continued to kick the wall repeatedly. "Just one big confusing mess."

Joan's features remained apathetic and unresponsive. Aside from a glass of water, she hadn't wished to eat anything. Normally, she would go off the walls if she sat for too long. Like Jaune, she couldn't stand doing nothing. Out of everyone in the family, she was still the worst off.

"Dear, are you sure that Ozpin didn't share anything else?" Daisy asked her husband. "Anything at all?"

"Nothing that hasn't been already said." Oliver replied while shaking his head. "I'd just be repeating what we alrea-"

His scroll began to beep, and he was quick to see what it was. He didn't answer a call, so it had to be a text message. He quickly read through it, and it was quite a lengthy response. He first frowned, then mellowed out.

"Well?" Daisy hope there was good news.

"Ozpin says he might be on the verge of a breakthrough right now." Oliver said. "Although until more news comes along, we won't be allowed to see him anytime soon."

The look on the eldest Arc sister's face signified deep thought. "Why do I get the feeling there's more to it?"

This was just the type of thing that they all worried about with Jaune. He had come here with minimal training, and despite his hard work and training under his partner, it still wasn't enough to prevent something like this happening, but it was his life and it wasn't like the family could hold him back forever.

"Maybe we babied him too much." Scarlet let out a breath while coming to this realization. "If we'd encouraged him, gave him training, maybe… this wouldn't have happened."

"What?" Viola demanded. "I thought you said-"

"I know what I said." Scarlet cut off her sister. "But… think about it. Jaune's the only brother we have. Because of that, we gave him special treatment. I'm sure if we were all boys and he was girl, we'd treat Jaune the same way."

One the thought had been shared everyone had to agree, verbally or silently. Jaune had become the baby of the family even if he wasn't the youngest. It wasn't that the sisters and parents didn't love each other, but Jaune was special. Like Scarlet had said, he was the only brother the sisters had and the only son that their parents had.

"Whatever the case, it doesn't excuse the blondie." Mindy countered with frustration.

"Yet Jaune was… willing to take that blow." Their father said seriously. "Jaune might be too eager, but that's not something he'd do for just anyone. From all accounts, he willingly and knowingly protected that boy."

"Yes, we can't… forget that." Daisy struggled a bit to sound polite. "However we feel about the situation… Jaune made his choice. It's just… so hard to find any positives given the outcome."

"But that's all we can do now." Jin perked up. "I mean, what would Jaune say about us all fretting over him?"

"He wouldn't want that." Gwen had the answer. "He'd say not to worry about him."

"Big brother always says that." Blanche's energy seemed to have increased. "We must have faith in him!"

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

 _By the time she realized that she had beaten an Ursa's head into nothingness, Yang's fists were beginning to hammer into the ground. Her breathing was uneven and her currently-unstable mindset was barely restrained by her desire to find-_

 _Something was approaching from behind her. She whipped around in time to feel her face bang against something flat, but strong. The force was enough to send her flying for all of second before she collided with the ground._

 _She stirred slightly and realized that something was dripping down her face, something that wasn't there when she had fought the Grimm. In that span of time, she hadn't gotten a single scratch._

 _"Just die already!" That voice._

 _There was pain, but she still managed to pick herself up enough to see that approaching her was the boy that she had come here to save. He was clad in his armor and had Crocea Mors at the ready. For some reason, he looked in pain, just as much as she was. That was enough for her to believe that this Jaune was indeed the boy she adored, not the voice who was trying to hurt her._

 _"J… Jaune?" Yang felt a bit of hope inside her. "It's me… Yang…"_

 _He ignored her and brought his blade down full force. The only think Yang could do was grab the blade with both hands, which worked, but the blade had managed to slice into her hands, sending a lance of white hot pain running up her arms and leaving her with two painful, bloody wounds. Jaune screamed and dropped his blade as his own hands began to bleed. He fell to his knees in pain._

 _Fighting against her own pain, she reached out a bloodied hand and touched him. The act only magnified the agony, but she was even more afraid of letting go of him._

 _"Jaune…" Yang maintained control of herself with much effort. "It's me, Yang. I'm here."_

 _"NO, GET AWAY!" He swatted her arm aside. "IT HURTS!"_

 _Yang fell backwards, catching herself on her palms, which only hurt more as the rough surface of the ground dug into the exposed flesh. It seemed to hurt him as well._

 _"JAUNE, IT'S ME!" Yang yelled in a desperate attempt to reach him. "IT'S YANG XIAO LONG."_

 _It wasn't working, and he armed himself with Crocea Mors once more. The hardened expression he had first carried had been replaced with a feral and erratic one, no doubt the pain had driven himto this point._

 _"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Jaune charged, his blade ready to pierce her. "GET OUT!"_

 _Yang felt her strength wavering, but she was able to shift her body so the piercing strike cut the air where she had been. She then grabbed his legs and used what strength she could summon to cause him to fall to the ground. The pain was not as notable as when he had cut her, but she still felt it._

 _Was it that every time one of them felt pain, so did the other? If so, what did that mean for them? She quickly scrambled over his prone form and pinned him down. She reared her fist back and threw a right hook. The blow connected with meaty "thwack", but it was followed by her receiving a solid impact of her own simultaneously,_

 _Her little experiment had been more than enough time for him to push her off. Seeing no other choice at the moment, she kept a clear distance from him, and he did the same, but his aggravation was obvious._

 _Why could she see him, but he couldn't see her? It just didn't make any sense. What was he even seeing when he was looking at her?_

 _"Why, Yang?" Jaune gasped through his pain. "Why didn't you come?"_

 _"But I did." Yang, even knowing the futility, spoke back. "I'm right here."_

 _He charged again, and this time, she went for a disarming technique while also avoiding any technique that could hurt either of them. Grabbing his arm, she forced him to drop the blade. She then kicked it away while wresting the shield from his arm, so he couldn't bash her again._

 _"JAUNE! STOP!" Yang got right up in his face. "STOP FIGHTING ME!"_

 _"GET OFF ME!" Jaune still wasn't oblivious to her. "GET OFF!"_

 _This was proving to be a useless effort, but she didn't know what else she was going to do. Her usual method of attacking the problem head-on wasn't going to work. Trying to snap him out of it wasn't working. What else could she do?_

 _Yang retreated again, this time, she retrieved his sword. That way, she had one less thing to consider. She needed to take a step back and think about this carefully, like that was going to be an easy task._

 _For the first time since their fight began, Yang took a good look at his face. She had no memory of giving him a head injury, but just like her, he was bleeding from the head. His hands were bleeding like her own. There was a slight bruise on his face, and she was willing to bet that she had the same bruise on her face. His hair, normally so clean and bright, was dirty and disheveled. His normally goofy and friendly face was marred with desperation, fear and rage. It was unsightly, but there was no denying that it was him._

 _"I want to see you smile, Jaune." The blonde brawler attempted to convey this to him. "That smile gave me… something to look forward to, and I screwed it to hell."_

 _On impulse, she shifted the blade she held, but not to fight the boy she cared so much for, rather, she flipped it so the point was facing her instead._

 _"So it's my turn to take a hit." It was like she had lost grip on sanity. "I'm sorry."_

 _Solidifying her resolve for this, frankly, crazy course of action, she poised the tip of the sword before herself, and thrust. The pain, as the sword entered her body, felt so alien. It wasn't at all like the movies or whatever she had expected. Seconds passed as her experience of pain was shattered and rebuilt by this new sensation, the feeling of death crawling so close._

 _She heard him scream._

 _"YANG! NO!"_

* * *

 **Okay, I have some explaining to do. Why an eternity to update? Part of it was because of this semester. I don't know if it's just something that happens as you approach senior year in college, but it's like my workload got heavier.**

 **Next is my inconsistent motivation. I love this story, don't get me wrong, but it works like this for me: I get an idea, I write it down, then I lose concentration. I read some books, I watch some films and television, play some video games, then get more ideas. I write those down. Those ideas stay with me until I get frustrated with those ideas. I then realize that it's been taking too long to get this thing done and then I REALLY get back my mojo.**

 **And finally, I know that I can write more than I do. It's just that it's hard to find the proper discipline to keep writing week after week and still have good ideas. I don't know how some people do it, but even now as I try to find that answer, I still don't have it.**

 **I apologize wholeheartedly to all my readers who waited month after month. I know that a simple apology is not worth much, so I made an effort to extend the chapter's length. I've also looking to wrap up this arc in the story within the next chapter or two, so for those of you wondering if this will drag on, don't worry.**

 **Also, a major thank you to all of you for propelling this story to the stats that I'm seeing. I really have no words to describe just how thankful I am to you all, and I thank you all for putting up with my incompetence. I will endeavor to work on lessening time between chapters to the best of my ability. A lot of V5 helped me to frame what I'm trying to do for the story.**

 **So all that aside, what do you all think? The reviews are appreciated, and even the more harsh ones I read and try to understand. While this chapter makes sense to me, what matters is what it means to the readers.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter.**

 _ **"Accept the challenge**_ _ **s so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."**_

 **George S. Patton**

 **Peace!**


	19. Ch 19: The Path to Reconciliation

Beta-Reader: **somenewguy** (Ideas), **Trance Sephiroth** (Grammar)

Cover Artist: **Makentsu**

Chapter 19: The Path to Reconciliation

 **Beacon Academy**

Glynda wasn't really sure what she was looking at. Yang Xiao Long's body, once she had made contact with Jaune Arc, had suddenly ceased to respond to outside stimuli. No amount of words, loud or soft, irritating or pleasing, would snap her out of her state. The only logical conclusion was that she and the boy were participating in a sort of joining. She was well aware of the circumstances that had led to this bond, and while she didn't approve, she had to admit it was something new to observe. With Jaune's white aura and Yang's yellow aura lighting up the room, they were the center of attention.

The teacher had used her own aura to see if there was any way she could catch a glimpse of what was happening between them. The only thing she had accomplished was finding a barrier that would absolutely not let her in. It was like the souls of her students were actively denying her entrance. That mildly irritated her, but it also made her wonder just how strong the bond was. Despite it being a new thing for the two of them, it was strong enough to repel all of her attempts of study, invasive or not.

 _Professor Ozpin would know more about this than I would._ Glynda mused to herself. _In fact, I wonder if he knew about this all along and was simply holding is tongue._

There was a high possibility that he had prior knowledge of this phenomenon. It simply stood to reason that he knew about this and decided to keep quiet about it. Even among those who knew about the Maidens, he kept secrets. This was probably just one of the many things that he kept close to his chest. It made her upset, in a way; while she understood keeping secrets and concealing some things were necessary, in the instance where a life depended upon knowledge that he wasn't sharing, she couldn't help but feel that he was acting far too distant from the world. Even if he had a plan, was it really worth putting Jaune's life at risk numerous times?

Jaune Arc was by no means the best student Glynda had ever had, not in terms of combat talent, skill, or experience. He still made a great deal of mistakes as his lack of proper training and education attested to, but he was a very capable leader and strategist. Add that to the fact that he had the proper mentality for becoming a huntsman and the teacher of many years found herself worrying a lot about him. It was the ones like him who had less time that were often some of the best warriors that the huntsman academies had produced. They had to either have be much more driven then their peers.

Glynda wondered if perhaps there was another element to this bonding that she had failed to anticipate. There was nothing really physical to be seen, but a connection needed something to exist in common between both subjects. That left only the mental and psychological states of both Jaune and Yang.

But what sort of emotional and/or psychological state had occured that made such a connection established? With Ozpin being vague and with little to add in terms of witness accounts, it fell to her to come up with her own conclusions.

First, there was the matter of Jaune and Yang as people. On the surface, they shared absolutely nothing in common. The former was a rookie warrior while the latter was skilled and reasonably experienced. He was awkward and unsure of himself and she was confident and assured. The knight was strategic and cautious while the brawler was impulsive and energetic. In short, they had nothing in common.

But that had to be wrong, because despite what she could tell about the two of them based on their profiles and her own eyewitness accounts, the evidence and facts couldn't account for the bond formed between the two of them. It was there, it was strong, and if she had to venture a guess, it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"If that is the case, then their inner selves are more related than what is obvious." Glynda mouthed off to herself. "It's not unusual for a person's true nature to contain more than what they project outwardly."

Getting a read on Yang was a bit harder than getting a read on Jaune, so she thought back to everything she knew about him. At initiation, he was sorely lacking, but he showed potential. In the weeks following, his clear lack of skill and experience showed and he spiraled downward. Then came a brief period of unusual alienation from his teammate, which had slightly affected Team JNPR's overall performance. That had lasted for a short time, and then came his sudden increase in dedication and persistence. Both his combat and strategic abilities began to show rapid signs of improvement, the former clearly taking cues from Pyrrha Nikos, and the latter seemingly being more of his own initiation.

Not only had his skills shown growth, but so too did his attitude. In single combat, he was more aggressive, but not without using strategy and tactics. In team battles, he coordinated efforts with his team fluidly and with admirable leadership. He was confident, but far from arrogant; no matter how he advanced, his past still defined his actions to a significant degree. He carried much of his own insecurities and uncertainties. It showed, but he did a better job of pushing whatever held him back in favor of giving his all and facing the consequences of success and failure.

A sudden sound of someone taking in a deep and somewhat hoarse breath of air jolted her from her thoughts. Jaune was now wide awake, and he had suddenly sat up, the force of his physical movement enough to yank the oxygen mask from his face, but he didn't appear to have trouble breathing at all. It was like he had woken up from a nightmare rather than from a coma.

"Mr Arc." Glynda recovered quickly. "Are you-"

"Yang!" The boy ignored her. "YANG! Answer me!"

The professor looked down and realized that Yang hadn't awoken.

* * *

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

* * *

 **A few hours later...**

Jaune stared at the number of a room that was adjacent to the one he had been in. Not a minute ago, he had been told that he had to leave so that the nurses and doctors could care for the patient. Yang Xiao Long was the patient, and he was now the one that was free. He should be at least happy for the latter.

Normally, getting released from the hospital was a lengthy process that required extensive testing, and while he had been tested and was able to walk without assistance oddly enough, all it took was some convincing from Ozpin that the boy no longer needed to remain in bed. Thus, he was free to walk about, and he had been cautioned against fighting for at least a day, two ideally, but that was the last thing on his mind.

He looked longingly at the door with a hard-set jaw. How was this supposed to make things better? Yang had gone in with the intention of saving him, and as a result, had ended up hurting herself and putting herself out of commission. He had no idea she was so desperate to get him back.

"Mister Arc." Ozpin said from behind him. "There's no point in staring at the door. Let the professionals do their job."

"Then you should've kept Yang away from me." Jaune bit back, not caring that it was the headmaster. "Otherwise this wouldn't be happening."

"Jaune." Ozpin put a hand on his shoulder. "This was Yang's choice. Don't deny her the ability to choose her path."

"..." Jaune swallowed and lowered his head. "It's not fair. She's suffering because of me. First because of me being out of it, and now because she's out of it."

"You'll get your chance later." Ozpin assured him with a squeeze. "Right now, it's time to meet with your family."

"What?" Jaune turned around. "My family?"

"Come with me." Ozpin gestured. "We can talk as we go."

The blonde-haired boy took one last look at the room with Yang before reluctantly pulling away, with only the sound of occasional footsteps.

"When you first went into a coma, I contacted your family." Ozpin began his explanation. "Your life was potentially at risk."

"I see." The knight had no idea things were that bad. "Knowing them, they probably made good time."

"They were here within the day." Ozpin concurred with his guess. "They were worried sick about you."

"No doubt." Jaune mused with a light chuckle.

The elevator ride down was quiet, but not quite awkward or stiff. Jaune was still trying re-familiarize himself with the reality of the physical world. Having just come out from a nightmare concocted by his own mind, this level of static and calm just didn't sit well. He doubted Grimm were going to just sprout from the ground, but his eyes darted all around as if they could at any moment.

"Jaune, what happened?" Ozpin wasn't blind, so he asked. "You seem more alert than usual."

"I… I was having a nightmare, I think." Jaune was sure that was what he had experienced. "It… it was like it was trying to kill me."

"Hm." Ozpin adjusted the grip on his cane. "Anything else?"

"Well…" Jaune thought about it some more. "There were times that the surroundings were more hostile than others."

"Then it's as I suspected." Ozpin's mind began to churn out more information. "Depending upon the mood of Yang, your suffering changed."

"I'm sorry, but you've lost me." Jaune shook his head. "Details, please."

"...I really shouldn't be telling you this, but I suppose it'll help you understand better. Mister Arc, what you've experienced and what you're experiencing now has to do with the soul. A bond has been formed between you and Miss Xiao Long."

"The soul? As in, our aura is part of this?"

"Not really. If anything, your aura and semblances aren't really connected to the soul in this sense. What I'm talking about is something much more abnormal, something that I hadn't really thought would ever happen again."

"... and that would be…"

"A soul bond has been formed. Unlike your aura's, this has to do with who you are as people. Under the right conditions, two people can share their souls with each other, essentially mixing and meshing in ways that normal people can't experience. In a sense, you're both personally experiencing each other."

"...um…"

"No, I don't mean it like that, Mister Arc." Ozpin deadpanned. "But I probably should ask just for the record. Have you and Yang engaged in-"

"Yes, we have." Jaune rushed to say only what was necessary and shut down the conversation. "Multiple times if that means anything."

"Well, that might explain the intensity of this bond. Normally, the sharing of souls takes a bit more time to establish, and in the time you two have become closer, you've done so at what seems to be an abnormal rate. In any event, the two of you have a bond, and it was originally established because the two of you were in a similar mindset when the connection was created. This combined with the fact that you two are… close in more ways than one only reinforced your connection."

"Ozpin, I know that I'm new to things huntsman-related, but this is getting pretty far out. Soul bonding? I find that hard enough to believe that it exists let alone that it exists in my life."

"Be that as it may, it's a very real thing, and you're right in the middle of it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm experiencing the same thing."

"Come again?"

"Jaune, I've lived a lot longer than you realize. Honestly, it would take more than your lifetime to recount my entire life."

This was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. If Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, was claiming something fantastic and borderline magical to be a real thing, then it had to be real. His face and demeanor didn't give off any hint of deceit or deception.

 _Well, it's not like I expect Ozpin to have those negative traits._ Jaune sighed mentally. _But, this is one giant clusterfuck. Of course I'm going to be skeptical._

The doors to the elevator parted slowly, and he stepped out into the hallway. It was a simple matter of walking a few meters to the left. The moment he stepped foot in the lobby, he was immediately bombarded by a smaller form. Due to the frequency that Nora had hugged him and with her strength, he had more or less gotten his body used to being tackled. This time, though, it wasn't his bubbly teammate, but someone else far less strong, but he recognized her immediately.

"Blanche." Jaune called his sister's name.

"Brother." She buried her face in his chest. "You're okay."

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Jaune replied lamely.

"Fine isn't the word I would use." He knew the voice of Scarlet all too well.

He cringed, but held his ground firmly. In the past, he would have crumbled under that tone. Countless hours of training and live experience not to mention this little experience had hardened him.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did." Jaune looked her in the while giving his reply. "I couldn't be proud of myself staying home."

"So you've kept saying." Mindy put an arm around his neck and spoke into his ear. "But dammit, don't go getting yourself killed to prove a point!"

"Okay, okay!" Jaune shifted his head away from her voice. "I get it!"

"Jaune!" Jin and Gwen surrounded him and tried to embrace him as best as possible.

"Okay, I know I had you all worried, but I can't move." Jaune protested while keeping his balance.

It had been so long since seeing his family in person that he almost forgot just how many people he had to greet and hug and kiss. Eight other family members he had, and they all absolutely loved him too much for his own good.

His eyes fell onto his twin sister, who looked ready to cry now.

"Joan." He felt like he had kicked a puppy with how she looked. "I-"

"Why did you leave me?" Joan began to croak. "Why did you leave me."

In hindsight, he knew his reasons. He could say them right now, but between between his heart and his head, he couldn't crush his twin sister, not when things were what they were right now. He wanted to do the right thing, but was it worth being so cruel in exchange? Did he really want to do more damage?

"I'm sorry." Jaune was somehow able to release himself from his other sisters and embraced Jaon. "I'm so sorry."

She sobbed and cried into his shirt all the while holding onto him like she would die if he did. His bond with her was the strongest out of all his sisters. Whatever one felt, the other could feel. Right now, they were both relieved in a way, but Jaune wasn't fully healed right now, and as long as that was the case, their shared emotional state would be anything but happy. He wondered if it was even possible sometimes to go back.

Then he saw his mother and father. "Mom, dad."

His mother wasted no time in embracing him, as did his father while Joan was still holding him. They hugged him like there was no tomorrow. His mother especially must have especially felt this; she always did treat him like a doll sometimes: fragile, precious, and perfect. His father, though to a lesser extent, might as well be guilty of it as well.

"I was so worried." His mother cupped his face.

"Mom, I'm okay. Really, stop crying." Jaune weakly smiled. "There's no reason for you to cry anymore."

She wasn't listening, which he probably should have expected. If there was one thing that he had learned in the past few days, it was that emotional people often were prone to not listen to reason or rationality.

But could he really blame anyone here for worrying sick about him? He had been on the brink of death. It was never his intention to worry anyone. As he had said to Pyrrha in the past, he never wanted to drag anyone down with him, and despite him seeking assistance and help more and more, he still clung to his pride, or whatever it was that kept him from asking for too much help. It was a reminder of how dependent he was of his family, how dependent he still could be on them, but also how much they were dependent upon him in their own way.

 _No, stop pushing people away._ Jaune realized his folly, and wanted to hit himself. _No more hiding away from others. I'm needed, now more than ever_

It really was a shame that he hadn't learned that lesson the first time. He thought he was better than this. Never make the same mistake, that was one thing that he never wanted to do, and here he was, doing it again trying to ensure that he was perfectly fine. It wasn't about him being okay or not. It was about the people around him. It was them that mattered more right in this moment.

Jaune became that his father had joined in, and this time, he did nothing to stop it. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out softly. He needed everyone to get their emotions out in the open. It was a necessary step for them if they were to listen to his next words. If he knew his family well, then they had done more than seek his recovery.

Yang could be in trouble in more ways than one.

"I'm sorry." Jaune voiced the only thing he could think of. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Viola said with a forced smile. "We'll get through this."

 _I hope you're right._ Jaune felt more than a little doubt. _I don't know if I'll be able to rebound if things go to hell._

And that was the honest truth.

"Thank you, Ozpin," Jaune heard her mother thank the headmaster.

"Your thanks are misplaced. I didn't do anything." Ozpin replied cryptically.

* * *

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

* * *

 **Team JNPR's dorm...**

"Jaune's been released from the hospital!" Ren, in a rare display of unbridled emotion, jumped up.

"WHAT?!" Pyrrha and Nora mirrored his excitement.

"He's been out for a while." Ren calmed down, but only a little. "Ozpin says it's okay to see him now. He's with his family."

"Then let's GO!" Nora was the first out the door.

Pyrrha followed swiftly, and Ren wasn't too far behind. At breakneck speeds, Team JNPR made their way to where Jaune and Ozpin were located. When they reached the doors, they could hear talking. It sounded like a lot of people. It had to be Jaune's family.

The doors more flung open, and there was their leader, looking pretty good considering he had been through hell. Aside from a single noticeable scar, there was nothing else that warranted alarm and worry. As expected, his family was already there, and from the look of things, they'd been catching up.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha was the first to rush up and embrace him.

"Pyrrha." Jaune rushed to soothe her. "It's okay. I'm here."

"Jaune-Jaune!" Nora leaped onto him next.

"Nora." The knight struggled to maintain his balance. "Hey."

"I knew that you were relentless, but not to this degree." Ren stepped up, with a hand on his leader's shoulder, smiling despite his words. "It's good to see you're okay."

"Thanks, Ren." Jaune nodded.

Team JNPR, for a time, didn't speak, instead taking comfort in silently being close to each other. Remnant could crack into pieces and it wouldn't matter in the slightest. Jaune was alive and well somehow. Speaking which…

"How have you recovered so quickly?" Ren asked the question. "The last we heard, you were in severe danger."

"Yeah, how'd you do it, Jaune-Jaune?!" Nora jumped in next. "Tell us!"

"I would like to know as well." Pyrrha followed her teammates.

"Um…" Jaune hesitated at this. "Well…"

"...what's wrong, Jaune?" Pyrrha looked him in the eye.

"He wouldn't answer the question when we asked him, Miss Nikos." Jaune's father said to the side. "And OZPIN is not helping matters either."

"It's not my story to tell." Ozpin felt no need to explain himself. "Jaune will answer the question should he be willing and able."

The realization of what was going on struck a chord of familiarity to all of Team JNPR. They had already seen the results of Jaune not telling people the truth of the matter. If he was doing that again, then something big had happened that could potentially have major after effects.

"Jaune, don't shut us out." Pyrrha approached him from a cautious angle, not wanting to spook him. "Not again."

The words had an effect on him, but he still didn't answer immediately. He looked like he was debating something in his head. It looked nothing like the time he was being blackmailed by Cardin. This time, his expression was more raw, more bare. His inner turmoil was plain as day to see, yet it was also unclear what the turmoil was caused by.

"I'm worried that if I tell you, you'll all stop me." Jaune replied in cryptic-sounding words, not unlike Ozpin.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" His mother stepped up. "Stop you from doing what?"

"How do you all feel about Yang?" His question came suddenly and without any connection to their previous words.

"Where is this coming from?" His eldest sister perked up.

"I want you all to answer my question." Jaune refused to back down. "Yang Xiao Long, do you all hold her responsible in full for this entire thing?"

The answer to all of them was obvious, but there was something in Jaune that made them back down from shoutinging out an immediate answer. Even the younger ones in the room picked on the mood instantly. There seemed to be an unspoken threat that was being carried out: if they answered a certain way, things going forward might not be so bright for them.

NPR looked amongst themselves, trying to think of a way to answer what they thought without hurting the feelings of their leader. It was Ren who decided to go for it.

"Jaune, Yang's actions, however understandable, are not justifiable." The blacked-haired boy measured his words carefully. "She was trying to cause harm to Sun."

"And I prevented her from doing so." The blonde-haired boy pointed out.

"That's not any better, Jaune." Pyrrha shook her head. "She still let her emotions get the better of her, and she hurt someone as a result."

"If we're talking about placing blame, then Sun's equally as guilty too." Jaune pushed back. "He stuck his nose where it didn't belong."

Nobody could deny his point there, and maybe if the monkey Faunus were here, they might be tearing him a new one. He might not have lit the spark, but he certainly provided the substance to start the fire, and he put it too close to a very hot flame. His reasons for doing so didn't matter. The results were disastrous all the same, and at this time, what mattered more was making sure everyone recover as best as possible.

It was for the first time since the argument began that Ozpin spoke.

"What I believe Mister Arc is getting at is that no matter who started this, it has to end." The headmaster surveyed everyone in the are. "Punishment can come later once everyone is actually able to be held accountable for any and all transgressions. Miss Xiao long cannot be punished if she doesn't survive to see the next day."

And there was the clincher right there. The Arc family was zealous about protecting each other, and those responsible for any injuries sustained would pay a hefty price, even to those involved only incidentally.

"Once the girl does come back, we'll be back." Scarlet made perfectly clear.

"Will you guys stop that!?" Jaune snapped. "I'm right here, you know. Don't act like I can't take care of myself."

"Because you cannot." Viola reprimanded slowly. "You got injured, you were-"

"That was my choice!" His self-restrained appeared to be dissolving. "I'm not a baby anymore!I'm a huntsman in training. I don't need to be coddled and babied anymore. I'm so sick of it!"

"Jaune." His mother began. "Please don't-"

"You're doing it again." Jaune laughed a broken laugh. "You're acting like I'm never going to grow up. Why?"

"...we just didn't want to see you hurt, Jaune." His father echoed the mentality of the entire family. "You running away doesn't exactly help either."

"Why do you think I ran away?!" Jaune gasped in amazement, as if they should all know the answer. "I knew this would happen! I needed time to myself, to grow up, to be more confident in myself! This is just something I have to accept and keep going forward!"

"And that's what worries us all." The Patriarch of the Arc family said gravely. "It's that 'forgive and forget' mentality."

His teammates had long since kept to their silence, watching the argument in the family unfold. They really didn't have words to say, because what they wanted to say was very similar to what the Arc family had to say. Sure, their viewpoint came from that of teammates and close friends, but that was a difference that felt minuscule in this moment.

More importantly, the argument had both sides not being able to reconcile with the other, not as they all were, and judging by what each side had to say, the team could only see this going one way.

Their leader caught onto this as well.

"I guess you all won't change your mind." Jaune sighed in resignation, having seemingly decided upon his course of action. "Yang brought me back. She's the reason why I'm here talking to all of you now, but now she's taken my place on the hospital bed."

Jaune wasn't one to joke, no was he one to take things lightly in such a serious situation, so all parties present had to to assume that he was serious in full. His teammates wasn't quite sure what to say or do. Just because Yang had saved their leader, they weren't just going to forgive just like that.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha now understood what he was getting at. "You-"

"Don't even bother." Jaune cut her off with a curt tone he'd never taken with her. "It's because I was incompetent that got me in this mess. I've got to own up to that and get her back on her feet."

"That's not true!" Nora's voice flared up. "You're not obligated to do anything for Yang."

"Actually, I am." Jaune all around him, taking in stock of the faces of the people he cared about. "You don't just sleep with someone you care about and then check out when the going gets tough."

And there was the truth nobody wanted to talk about.

"And I'm glad that you care."

That was Ruby.

JNPR and the Arc family saw the familiar face of Ruby and Taiyang standing at the exit. The former was smiling a bit too unnaturally for a situation so somber while the latter looked ready to lash with just a little prodding.

The red reaper took several strides forward and stood only a foot away from her fellow teammate. The knight pushed aside his teammates and looked her in the face. Their ensuing staredown reignited tensions. Everyone expected a move to be made or words to spewed.

Time slowed as Ruby reacted with speed befitting of her semblance and slapped him across the right cheek. Jaune's head snapped to the side. Everyone react on impact, and Jaune seemed to anticipate this.

"Stop!" He didn't shout, but he was loud enough to get everyone to stand down. "I deserved that."

"You sure do." Ruby pouted and sobbed. "But you're going to save her, so I can't be mad at you forever."

By her side was her equally angry and saddened father. Taiyang was doing a much better job at keeping himself in check, but his killer intent couldn't be mistaken. Amazingly enough, Jaune seemed utterly unphased.

"I don't think I have to explain what I want to do to you." The father of two stepped right into Jaune's space. "The only reason you're still in one piece is because you're going to get my little sun dragon back. After that, we will have words."

"...I would expect nothing less." The leader of JNPR returned evenly. "Now then, does anyone ELSE have an objection?"

"Brother!" It was Blanche who rushed up to him to hug his leg. "Why are you saving this girl that has harmed you?"

"Because I care about her, Blanche." Jaune tilted his head to meet her eyes. "Just like I care about you all. She… means a lot to me."

A slight hesitation in his response was enough for at least a few ears to indicate that despite his willingness to save Yang, there was something else that was driving him besides a desire to save her. In a more normal setting, more questions would have followed, but they had already wasted enough time as things stood.

"Mister Arc, there's no need for you to make a decision so quickly." Ozpin was the first to not openly criticize him, only allowing him the choice. "There's still time to process."

"I appreciate the thought, headmaster, but I can't sit here, not while Yang suffers." Jaune did not back down. "With your permission, allow me to bring her back."

"...then let's begin." Ozpin adjusted his cane.

* * *

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

* * *

 **Yang's Hospital Room...**

"I need both of you to listen carefully to my instructions." Ozpin related to Glynda and Jaune. "With Yang's attempt fresh in-mind, I now have an idea of how to proceed without any further damage to anyone else."

"Why didn't you help her when she came in?" Jaune asked with a restrained biting tone. "Why help now?"

"Because I wasn't sure how to proceed." Ozpin disclosed. "I will admit that my inaction wasn't ideal, but considering all factors, I could not risk more damage, not when I had nothing to refer to. Now I do."

Holding his scroll, the Headmaster pulled up some information concerning Yang and Jaune's aura.

"Although this data gives me an idea of what happened, Jaune, I need you to explain what you were experiencing from your end."

"I…" Jaune struggled to formulate a response. "It was like… a dream… a nightmare… something that was too weird to be normal. We both were part of it, maybe not the exact same things happened to us, but our pain was mutual. I think I mentioned part of that before."

"Yes, you did, but with the additional information, a few things are explained." Ozpin took a moment to look at Yang's condition on the monitor. "As I said before, both your souls are intertwined in a way that goes beyond simply sharing or joining aura."

"Pardon me, sir." Glynda furrowed her brown in question. "But what does all of this have to do with saving Miss Xiao Long?"

"If Jaune tries the same thing that Yang does, I fear the results will be the same." Ozpin inhaled a small breath before releasing it carefully. "She will awaken and he will return to a coma. The cycle will continue, chipping away at their sanity each time."

"I see." Glynda perked up, having figured out what was going on. "We will act as an anchor for Jaune while he revives Miss Xiao Long."

"We will also transfer aura as needed." Ozpin said.

"Professors, I still have aura." Jaune mentioned to both his teachers. "I'll be fine."

"We are better off safe than sorry." Ozpin stood firm and left no room for argument. "We've already been playing with fire. The last thing we need is to get burned."

Jaune looked like he wanted to bite off his tongue, and if it did come to that, then the older man wouldn't do anything to stop his student. As the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, he had a responsibility to the entire student body. While not done with the intent to appear uncaring or apathetic, his actions of observing and studying had no doubt come across as unproductive and frustrating to both Jaune and Yang. Regardless, he knew better than to throw himself headfirst without prior knowledge that could help him. Still, with a massive deal of effort, the blonde boy, with some effort, kept his tongue from spewing any further venom, but his eyes couldn't hide what he was thinking.

"Jaune, I understand what you're going through, and I don't ask you to like what I've been doing, but if you cooperate with me, you can save Yang without having to go through the same thing-"

"If it'll end the nightmare, then fine." Jaune cut him off with an answer. "Just… help me get Yang back."

* * *

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

* * *

 ** _Dreamscape..._**

 _Yang hung her head down, with not the strength nor the motivation to do anything more than just remain on her knees, her body numb to the pain of a blade being driven through herself and her spirit tired and broken. What was there left to do but wait for all to end? Was there a way for her to accelerate her end?_

 _"I just want this to end." Yang barely recognized her own voice. "I just… want this… to… end…"_

 _Somewhere up where the sky should be, she knew something was going on. She could hear a ruckus going on. Someone was close by, but her ears made her believe they were far away. At best, she could detect that there was a female and male voice, and nothing more that she cared to figure out._

 _Then she felt the presence of two people, one that she was familiar with on instinct, the other she knew somehow, but couldn't put a name to._

 _"Yang… it's me." Jaune said some words, which sounded all around her. "I… don't know if you can hear these words… but… if you are, then listen."_

 _He sounded like he was trying hard to keep calm, yet he seemed serious, almost as if it was a forced way of speaking._

 _"I… don't pretend to understand why you tried to hurt Sun, but I would like to know why." Jaune paused, then continued with more. "I want to know why it wasn't worth it to you to share the problem with me. It does have to do with both of us."_

 _Why didn't she consult Jaune about the picture of them? Why had she gone off on to deliver her own justice that she felt was right?_

 _"If you're worried about my response, then let me get out everything that I'm feeling and thinking. Yes, I'm upset that you chose to hurt Sun rather than try to have a conversation about what he had done. I'm upset that we're in this cycle of pain. I'm upset… that you don't trust me enough to ask for help when you could have."_

 _That last one had more emotions, and the blonde brawler was now listening, unable to do anything else. Never had he addressed in such a way. It might be outright rage and anger pointed at her, but it was close enough for her, far too close for her liking, but she was in no position to be complaining about what she did or did not deserve. This result could have been avoided if she had the discipline to not let loose like she did._

 _"Then again, I don't suppose we've got much going in terms of a relationship, or a friendship for that matter. I don't really know what's your favorite food. I don't really know what your favorite season is. I don't really know what kind of music you like. I just know that you're a girl who makes terrible jokes, has some mother issues, and likes being a huntress for thrills, I guess the big things… but not the details… and I'm rambling. The point it… I guess I don't know you enough… not enough to stop you from doing this, and yet… I feel like a part of me would be lost if I lost you."_

 _With a face to look at, Yang tried to imagine what he looked like right now. She thought about his features. His boyish face, his unkempt hair, his blue eyes, all things she had come to memorize and commit to memory during the time they spent together. She tried to come up with an image of him next to her. Having his voice and nothing else wasn't enough for her. See was believing._

 _"Yang… I want to help you, but I need your help… please talk to me if you can hear me… I want to know that the girl I care about values me too."_

 _Another heartbeat passed as she lifted her head up, a bit of her old strength coming back to her. A single spark._

 _"I don't like it when I'm not in control." Yang gulped, controlling herself. "When Sun exposed us… I felt control slipping away… and when that happens, my anger always gets to me… and this time… it got to me good._

 _"I think I mentioned that I have issues with my mom, but… it doesn't just end there. I have a lot of problems with my family. I just thought… if I could make this relationship go right… I would be able to live happier. I guess that was asking for too much… but I was still mad when my hopes got dashed, so in typical me fashion, I lashed out."_

 _Yang was never a fan of bearing her heart and soul out. She hardly ever talked about these things with anyone. Even with Ruby and her father, it was tough to talk about these things. All of them were family, and were all subjugated to similar pain. This one, though, was more personal, far more personal. She would be lying if she said that she didn't ask herself what would happen if they managed to stay together. What would result?_

 _Would they get together? Would they end up together forever?_

 _Would they be family?_

 _"I didn't ask for your help because I was selfish… I haven't been able to help that part of myself… and since there haven't been major consequences for my use of anger… it never really occurred to me that I was being selfish… until now._

 _"... sorry won't cut it, I know, but… I am sorry that this happened… that I've caused so much heartache… heartache that we could have gone around if I had the courage to talk to you about what we are… what we've become…"_

 _Admitting that she was wrong was the most formidable thing for Yang to do. She was so confident, so assured, and so certain of things in her life that it really wasn't her way to apologize or reconsider anything she did, not like this. Then again, she hadn't ever come across a situation like this, one that had her seeing the dark side of her own reflection. It was hard to recall memories of serious times._

 _"I just want to go back to the way things were." Yang smile a ghost's smile. "Just us doing our thing… the way I wanted it to be… at least for a little while."_

 _The girl was many things, but she wasn't stupid nor was she naive, at least not as much as she led people to believe. It was more like she was content to only consider the bright side and try hard to ignore the dark side, hoping that things would work themselves out somehow, because in the past, things always had worked out._

 _"Yang… things will never be the same as they used to be." Jaune replied truthfully, almost in a blunt manner. "To pretend that nothing's happened… neither of us can do that now."_

 _It was a hard pill to swallow, but one that she knew was coming. She couldn't really expect her life to be the same for that matter. Their relationship had become something precious to her. Their bond, she felt, had the strength of her familial bonds, and when it came to relationships that were so rooted, she would fight tooth and nail to preserve them for as long as humanly possible._

 _"But… that doesn't mean that things can't be good." Jaune had to have sensed her dread, as his words were very reassuring. "Yes, I'm mad at you, at myself, at everyone for being difficult, but this doesn't change the time that we had together. I won't be letting go of that, not without a fight. You can't tell me that you don't feel the same way."_

 _And he was right. Regardless of the reasons that they were brought together, the fact remained that they were joined together in more ways than one. Physically, mentally, spiritually, all three and possibly much more than they could ever imagine. Turning back was no longer an option._

 _"Then… how do we get out of this?" Yang asked, timidly but also hopefully._

 _"Do you trust me?" Jaune asked her._

 _"I do."_

 _"Then let me help you."_

 _"...how?"_

 _"...Ozpin implied that our bond is the key. I think… we need to focus on the good times we've had together, somehow channel those… I guess…"_

 _"You don't sound too sure."_

 _"To be honest, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going by gut instinct."_

 _Yang began to reach into her own gut instincts. Maybe she could find another part of the solution that Jaune was lacking. It was a longshot, and with her mood being what it was, her mind wasn't in the its peak state. She could very well gloss over the answer and never even realize it, but she still had to try._

 _"Focus on good memories, pleasant memories." Yang said while thinking back to their very first encounter._

 _That night had seemed like an eternity ago, and in hindsight, it had started with a friendly intent, but the first time they made eye contact, that the . Sure, it was emotionally charged, but that's the only thing fueling it: emotions and feelings that were similar. It was physically pleasing to be sure. However, it was their reason that wasn't so positive, that of a shared negative emotion. Pain, longing, things that weren't associated with what normal people would consider a healthy and happy relationship._

 _But then again, what did normal people know about her? What did they know about Jaune? They didn't know what it meant to be a hunter of the Creatures of Grimm. They didn't know what it meant to fight against what seemed to be an unstoppable force. It wasn't just for sex; it was mutual healing. It might be morbid, but at least they weren't alone. Better to carry on with someone that could help._

 _That was the moment that a revelation came to her, something that seemed obvious in hindsight. It was enough for her to regain some of her old fighting spirit, prompting her to rise up on her feet._

 _"Jaune, it wasn't just the good things that brought us together." Yang looked up into the blackness. "I remember looking into your eyes and seeing something that I could see in myself."_

 _"...what did you see?" Jaune sounded almost collected, but there could be no confusing the sliver of terror that he emitted, which was as thick as the blackness surrounding her._

 _"I saw a boy who was afraid, but still wanted to do better." Yang said with confidence and without pause. "I saw a boy who wanted so desperately to change for himself so that he could hold his head high and tell the world that he was worth something in spite of his shortcomings. I saw… a boy who was just like me."_

 _"How am I just like you?" Again, Jaune was unconvinced._

 _"Because I know what it's like to be the weak kid." Yang balled her fists, her hair beginning to glow. "When Ruby and I were still kids, I almost got us killed by putting us in the Grimm's killzone. Even worse, now that I think about it, it was because of my selfishness that nearly got both of us killed, just like how my selfishness is killing us now."_

 _Silence on his end. Silence on her end. Awkward silence, the kind that was almost palpable enough to be cut with a knife, yet the knife in question would take some time to cut through the density of the atmosphere. Her worst fear wasn't spoken, but the silence was only serving to exacerbate her fear._

 _"My worst mistakes were all because of my selfishness." Yang continued to speak to lessen the silence. "And yet I've never learned a gods damned lesson from any of those times."_

 _"I don't believe that." Jaune finally snapped out of his reticence. "And I don't think you do either. If you didn't learn from your mistakes, you wouldn't be trying so hard to not make them again. You wouldn't be spending so much time beating yourself."_

 _"Then why am I failing again, Jaune?" Yang demanded. "Why am I being punished AGAIN?"_

 _"You honestly can't expect to win at everything." Jaune's conveyance came with learned wisdom. "Do you remember all the times that I failed in combat class? How many times I had to lose before I won?"_

 _"That's different, though." Yang dismissed this. "There's always a winning and losing side in a fight. That's just how it works, and everyone knows it."_

 _"But if I was afraid of failing and improving, I wouldn't fight anyways, but I still wanted to succeed, even if my determination came from stubborness and no skill or experience to back me up."_

 _That's right, Yang came to remember. Jaune had failed so many times before winning his first fight. Even if everyone in class knew that he still left much to be desired, he still went out there with the intent to win one day. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not in a week, but he would eventually, and he did. Everyone still made fun of him on occasion, but they all respected him for his tenacity._

 _"What about you, Yang? Why do you fight?"_

 _"You know why. I'm a thrill seeker. I fight for myself, and being one of the good guys is a bonus, the icing on the cake."_

 _"So we are the same."_

 _"How are we the same, Jaune?"  
"Because we're in it for selfish reasons, Yang. You're in it for adventure. I'm in to prove my own worth. We might have different reasons, but the reasons have the same motivation: selfishness."_

 _"Yeah…"_

 _Everything he was saying was making sense, and the more he made sense, the more she could grasp onto him, keep talking to him._

 _"Yang, I'm begging you. Please… I need you."_

 _"...Swear to me, then. Swear to me that we can get through this. Swear to me that we'll stick by each other no matter what."_

 _"...I swear on my life and honor as a member of the Arc family that I will stay by your side through thick and thin."_

 _Yang nodded her head slowly and she did it many times. She was as ready as she ever was going to be. Her doubts were still fresh in her mind, but_

 _"Okay."_

 **(X)(X)(X)(X)**

Jaune was suddenly pulled out that world and back to Remnant. His breathing was momentarily erratic before he settled down.

"Mister Arc." Ozpin was the first to respond. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Jaune gathered himself. "More importantly…"

"Jaune." Yang's voice came out softly.

Blue eyes met lilac eyes.

"Hey." The knight grabbed her hand.

"Hey yourself." The brawler smiled.

* * *

 **Did I confuse you all? I hope I didn't, and the point wasn't to confuse you all. The point was to bring the relationship of Jaune and Yang into perspective, or at least one that hopefully makes sense, but this is my interpretation. I'm sure for those Dragon Slayer/Firewall shippers who have written a story, you've got your own reasons too.**

 **This chapter wasn't supposed to take as long, but I got sidetracked to say the least, and one of those distractions was JPDE, the visual novel that's based on the world of RWBY. If you haven't tried it, I would suggest that you do. It might not be to everyone's taste, but considering this thing is free, it's got a lot going for it.**

 **There was also the fact that I hadn't tried to dive this deep into the characters, and honestly, I had to get a lot of inspiration from some psychological and horror media titles including but not limited to Chaos; Head, Chaos; Child, and Danganronpa.**

 **So for now, this arc has come its end, but remember, consequences kind of matter in this story (or at least some of them do). Who's going to take the blame now for all of this? The next chapter will answer this and settle this once and for all.**

 **I thank you all for sticking with this story and being a supporter. Seriously, you guys are an amazing audience and you all give me an immense amount of motivation to keep going.**

 **So what do you guys think? Are you glad it's all over? What are your thoughts for the future to come?**

 **Again, thanks to everyone who's chosen to read this far and I hope you enjoyed reading.**

 _ **"The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way."**_

 **Dale Carnegie**

 **Peace!**


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